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Biomedical subjects

L Pacilli

Publications and source records attributed to L Pacilli.

46 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Therapy of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia in children: a review of 73 patients.

Since 1969, 73 children with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia have been admitted for evaluation and treatment at the Institute of Hematology of the University of Rome. Various drug regimens, basically including daunomycin and/or cytosine arabinoside, were employed both for induction and maintenance treatment. Overall, the incidence of complete remission was 63%. The availability of intensive supportive measures starting in 1974 appears to be the most likely explantation for the higher response rate observed since then. Duration of remission and overall survival were disappointingly short owing to the high frequency of bone marrow relapse. Carefully controlled clinical studies will in the future be necessary to explore better methods of preventing leukemic relapse.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sequential combination of methotrexate and L-asparaginase in the treatment of refractory acute leukemia.

Seventy-six patients with advanced acute leukemia refractory to conventional chemotherapy were treated with a sequential combination of methotrexate (MTX) and L-asparaginase (L-ASP), based on the reported schedule-dependent synergism between the two drugs in human leukemic cells in vitro. On Day 1, patients received 60 mg/m2 of MTX iv, followed 24 hours later by L-ASP at a dose of 10,000 IU/m2 iv. This sequence was repeated weekly with 50% escalations in the dose of MTX with each course. Overall, 31 of 76 patients (40.7%) achieved complete remission after a median of three courses; the response rate was 35.5% in patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (21 of 59 patients) and 58.8% in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ten of 17). Increasing the starting dose of MTX to 200 mg/m2 did not improve the response rate. Maintenance therapy with the same combination given every 2 weeks produced a median complete remission of 10 weeks. Toxicity was manifested by: acute hypersensitivity reactions to L-ASP (five patients), stomatitis (36 patients), and mild liver abnormalities (five patients). MTX in doses up to 200 mg/m2 caused minimal myelosuppression. We conclude that the MTX-L-ASP combination is a well-tolerated, highly effective induction regimen for refractory acute leukemia.

Acute Disease↗