OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical efficacy of Chinese drugs combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and to investigate the prognostic relevance of the main parameters in AML treated with integrative medicine.

METHODSForty AML patients hospitalized at the authors hospital were treated with Chinese drugs and chemotherapy. The routine examination, immunophenotype and karyotype analyses were carried out. The clinical efficacy was observed and the prognostic factors were analyzed.

RESULTS(1) Clinical efficacy: Twenty patients had complete remission (CR), with the CR rate being 50.0%. Among these patients, the CR rate was 73.9% (17/23) in de novo AML and 17.6% (3/17) in secondary or refractory AML, respectively. The median disease free survival (DFS) was 6 months (2-32 months) and median overall survival (OS) was 7 months (1-36 months). (2) Analysis of prognostic factors: Aging (> 60 years) and hepatosplenomegaly or extramedullary leukemia did not affect the treatment outcome. Patients with lower white blood cell (WBC) counts (<4.0x10(9)/L) had a significantly higher CR rate (P<0.01). Secondary or refractory AML was associated with a lower CR rate and shorter OS (P<0.01,P<0.05). Expression of CD34 was an adverse factor for obtaining CR (P<0.05) and survival in both DFS and OS (P<0.05,P<0.01). The expression of CD56 was significantly associated with a lower CR rate (P<0.05), but did not affect DFS and OS. Twenty-three (57.5%) out of 40 cases had chromosomal abnormalities. The CR rate was decreased and both DFS and OS shortened stepwise from the cases with favorable cytogenetics to those with intermediate and unfavorable cytogenetics (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe combined treatment of Chinese drugs with chemotherapy has a predominant effect in de novo AML. Secondary or refractory AML, expression of CD34 and CD56, and unfavorable cytogenetics were the main factors of poor prognosis in AML.