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Cytarabine Induction Followed by Imatinib Post-Induction Therapy in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia - Limited Effects in a Case Series

Patrick BRUECK¹, Oliver G. OTTMANN², Elizabeth RAMOS-LOPEZ³, Dieter HOELZER⁴, Angelika BOEHME⁴, Mathias RUMMEL<sup>1

1</sup>University of Giessen, Medical Clinic for Hematology and Medical Oncology, Giessen, GERMANY
²University of Frankfurt, Department of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, University of Frankfurt, GERMANY
³University of Frankfurt, Department of Medicine, Endocrinology and Diabetes, GERMANY
⁴Oncologikum, Frankfurt a. M., GERMANY

Keywords: Imatinib mesylate, Acute myeloid leukaemia, Post-induction therapy, Elderly patient

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Elderly patients with acute myeloid leukaemia frequently cannot undergo intensive chemotherapy due to comorbidities. We report a
retrospective case series of elderly patients with AML treated with low dose cytarabine induction. Eleven patients with at least 25%
of bone marrow blasts expressing c-kit received Imatinib post-induction therapy, 7 patients entered as controls. Haematologic responses
were only slightly better in the Imatinib cohort. No correlation of the response to Imatinib with c-kit expression was noted.
Partly due to two early deaths in the control cohort, survival was longer in the Imatinib cohort. Imatinib post-induction therapy after
cytarabine induction is feasible in elderly patients with AML not eligible for standard induction but responders to Imatinib have only
limited benefit from this low-toxic therapy while no predictive response markers could be found.

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