Oral Idarubicin in Elderly Acute Leukemia and Myelodyplastic Syndromes.

During the last five years, a new anthracycline 4:demethoxy daunorubicin or ldarubicin (IDR) has been found to be useful as an antileukemic agent. IDR is less cardiotoxic and has unequivocal biological activity when administered orally. Therefore, the choice of this oral agent to treat elderly acute non-lymphoid leukemias (ANLL) or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) on an out-patient basis is attractive for obvious reasons.