Treatment of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Preliminary results of a trial from the French Group.

We present here the results of a cooperative trial in 244 adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Induction therapy with vincristine, cytoxan, and prednisone (VCP) gave the same complete remission rate after one course as more aggressive induction with vincristine, rubidazone, araC, and prednisone (VRAP) due to increased toxic death in the aggressive arm. Because of high efficacy of salvage therapy with VRAP regimen in patients failing to achieve CR with VCP regimen, patients initially randomized to receive VCP had a significantly higher CR rate than patients initially receiving VRAP (87% vs. 73%, p = 0.01). Patients randomized to receive postremission consolidation using adriamycin, araC, and asparaginase (AAA) prior to maintenance had a significantly longer remission than patients not receiving consolidation (p less than 0.005). At the time of analysis allogeneic bone marrow transplantation does not significantly increase disease-free survival when compared with intensive consolidation chemotherapy.