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ASH 2021 | High dose cytarabine consolidation does not improve survival in AML

Christoph Röllig, MD, MSc, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany, discusses the findings of a retrospective investigation of the impact of different dosages of cytarabine consolidation therapy on outcomes in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). High dose cytarabine is widely used as consolidation chemotherapy to reduce the risk of relapse, yet the optimal dose is unclear. More than 800 patients were included in the real-world study, who received at least one consolidation cycle with intermediate or high dose cytarabine. It was demonstrated that there was no significant difference in overall survival or relapse-free survival after 5 years between the two groups. However, the rate of grade ≥3 infectious complications was significantly higher in those treated with high dose compared to intermediate dose cytarabine. This suggests there is no significant benefit to using high dose cytarabine as consolidation, a hypothesis which needs confirming in a randomized fashion. This interview took place at the 63rd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition congress in Atlanta, GA.