Work

Real-world treatment patterns and comparative efficacy in unfit patients with acute myeloid leukemia (CURRENT): results of the Spanish population

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: Intensive chemotherapy represents the standard treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but elderly patients often cannot tolerate this treatment.Until 2020, only three non-intensive drugs were approved: Azacitidine, decitabine (hypomethylating agents, HMA), and low-dose cytarabine (LDAC).Objective: To assess the management and clinical outcomes of non-intensive treatment in elderly patients with AML in clinical practice before the introduction of novel agents.Material and methods: Retrospective study conducted at 9 Spanish hospitals (a subset of the global CURRENT study).Results: Of 109 patients included, 67.9% received systemic therapy (ST) and 32.1% best supportive care (BSC).STs included: Azacitidine (47.3%); low-dose therapies (43.2%) cytarabine, aclarubicin, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; decitabine (5.4%); and LDAC in monotherapy or combination (8.1%).The median overall survival was not reached (NR) in patients receiving LDAC monotherapy (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.6-NR), while it was 10.5 (95% CI: 5.1-15.6)and 1.6 (95% CI: 0.9-3.2) months in those receiving HMA and BSC, respectively.Conclusion: Clinical outcomes of available treatments in Spain up to 2020 for elderly patients with AML remained unsatisfactory.Azacitidine was the most commonly used treatment and, compared to the global CURRENT study, LDAC was scarcely used.There is a need to develop more tolerable and efficient innovative therapies for this unfit population.

Source: Revista Sangre (ENG)

DOI: 10.24875/sangree.24000003