Attempted Prevention of Blast Crisis in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia by the Use of Pulsed Doses of Cytosine Arabinoside and cis-Chloronitrosurea During the Course of Busulfan-Maintained Remission

Abstract

We performed this chemotherapeutic trial to try to delay the onset of the blast crisis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) by pulsing doses of drugs most likely to be effective against emerging “blast” cells characteristic of acute phase disease. A randomized trial in patients with CML comparing busulfan maintenance to busul-fan maintenance plus pulsed doses of cytarabine and lomustine did not yield any differences in either time to blast crisis or death.