[The clinical efficacy of the patients of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes treated with decitabine alone, combined with half or one couse of CAG regimen].

Objective: To observe the clinical safety and efficacy of decitabine in patients of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS/AML).

Methods: Totally 79 patients with MDS/AML were divided into three groups: (1)Treated with decitabine alone (20 mg/m² for 5 days). (2) Combination of decitabine with half dose CAG chemotherapy (Acla 20 mg qod×3 d, Ara-C 10 mg/m² q12 h×7 d, G-CSF 300 μg/d, the dose of G-CSF adjust to the amount of blood routine). (3)Combination of decitabine with CAG chemotherapy (Acla 20 mg qod×4 d, Ara-C 10 mg/m² q12 h×14 d, G-CSF 300 μg/d, the dose of G-CSF adjust to the amount of blood routine). We observed complete remission (CR) rate, overall response rate (ORR) and overall survival (OS) of the three groups; meanwhile, we analyzed the factors relevant to decitabine efficacy and the prognosis.

Results: ORR in the three groups were 53.3%, 56.5% and 69.2% respectively, with no statistically significant differences (P>0.05). Due to the last follow-up at 2014.04.01, 20 patients still survived, 45 died, 14 were lost to follow-up. The 5-year cumulative survival rate of 79 patients was 25.3%, the 2-year survival were of the three groups were 34.8%, 24.8 and 29.2% respectively with no statistically significant differences (P>0.05). Adverse events of infection and bleeding were mainly caused by decitabine. Grade 3 to 4 hematological toxicities were observed in 72 cases with the average time for the lack of granulocytes as 14.8 days. 59 patients experienced infectious events, including grade 3 or 4 infections in 14 cases, grade 1 or 2 infections in 45 cases. There were no statistically significant differences (P>0.05) among the three groups in terms of infection rates, bleeding rates, duration of neutrophenia, mean MAP transfusion and mean platelet transfusion. 79 patients were safely through bone marrow suppression by anti-infective and supportive treatment without treatment-related deaths.

Conclusion: Treating MDS/AML with decitabine alone, in combination with half or one course CAG regimen produced high efficacy. ORR of the combination of decitabine with one course CAG regimen was relatively higher. Three groups of patients were all well tolerated.