Cladribine, cytarabine and idarubicin (CLA-Ida) salvage chemotherapy in relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

BACKGROUND The prognosis for relapsing AML patients is disappointing and the preferred salvage chemotherapy is unclear. Among other regimens, cladribine, cytarabine, and idarubicin (CLA-Ida) is used. METHODS We analyzed relapsing AML patients receiving CLA-Ida chemotherapy between July 2012 and April 2015 at three academic centers in Switzerland. RESULTS Thirty-four patients underwent at least one cycle of CLA-Ida chemotherapy, with 6 patients having two cycles. Treatment-related mortality was 5.9% (2/34 patients). Eighteen patients (52.9%) achieved a complete remission (CR2), and 16 (47.1%) received subsequent allogeneic transplantation, with 8 (23.5%) of these patients remaining in complete remission after a median follow-up of 6 months. In contrast, all 16 patients not achieving CR2 died within 12 months after relapse due to progressive disease. CONCLUSION Our data suggest a promising rate of complete remission following CLA-Ida salvage treatment in relapsing AML patients enabling a substantial proportion of such patients to proceed to allogeneic transplantation