Successful treatment with idarubicin in a pediatric case of t(8;21) acute myelogenous leukemia with additional chromosomal abnormalities at relapse]

A 9-year old boy was admitted to our hospital due to a relapse of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). A chromosomal analysis at the time of relapse revealed abnormalities in addition to 45, X,-Y, t(8;21) (q22;q22) when AML was first diagnosed. The patient was given granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) and aclarubicin (CAG therapy), but this treatment regimen was not effective. He was next treated with G-CSF (started 3 days prior to the administration of anticancer drugs), Ara-C, (200 mg/mm2 for 7 days), Etoposide (VP.16, 150 mg/mm2 for 5 days) and Idarubicin (8 mg/mm2 for 5 days) according to the modified Japan Cooperative Protocol ANLL 91 for children. Although his condition had been septic and he had experienced renal and respiratory failure, he achieved a complete remission after 140 days without additional therapy. The patient returned to a condition of health and received a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. We concluded that this treatment regimen is effective for the relapse of AML in children.