Introduction:

Acute myeloid leukemia represents 80% of acute leukemias among adults; the induction treatment to obtain remission in patients under 60 years old is based on the combination of anthracyclines and cytosine arabinoside.

Objective:

to incorporate the high doses of anthracyclines to the treatment of induction of non-promyelocytic acute myeloid leukemia in adult patients under 60 years of age.

Method:

We conducted a quasi-experimental study in 41 patients with this diagnosis, at the adult clinic service of the Institute of Hematology and Immunology, from september 2013 to december 2016. Morphological, immunological, cytogenetic and molecular studies were carried out at the beginning of the disease and also echocardiography was performed to determine the ejection fraction and shortening of the left ventricle a year after the end of treatment, to determine cardiotoxicity due to the use of high doses of anthracyclines.

Results:

The distribution by age was higher in the group of 46 to 52 years represented by 26.8% of the cases and the male sex predominated 60.9%. In 85% of the cases the disease appeared de novo. According to the morphological criteria of the French American British classification, 31.7% corresponded to the M1 variant, in close relation with the determinations by flow cytometry, for this variety. The genes most commonly involved were NPM1 and AML / ETO, for 24% and 22% respectively. 56.1% of patients achieved hematological remission with a single treatment cycle and 14.6% of patients needed a second induction scheme. No anthracycline cardiotoxicity events were reported during the treatment, nor a year after the treatment, in the patients evaluated.

Conclusions:

With the use of high doses of anthracycline, have been hematological remissions, without demonstrated cardiovascular toxicity.