Observation of clinical efficacy and toxic and side effects of pirarubicin combined with cytarabine on acute myeloid leukemia

Efficacy and toxic and side effects of pirarubicin combined with cytarabine and mitoxantrone combined with cytarabine on the treatment of initially treated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were compared. A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical records of 76 AML patients who were initially treated in Weifang People's Hospital. Among them, 36 patients (observation group) were treated with pirarubicin combined with cytarabine, and 40 patients (control group) were treated with mitoxantrone combined with cytarabine. The efficacy and toxic and side effects on patients in the two groups were observed. There was no statistically significant difference in the complete response (CR) rate, partial response (PR) rate and overall response (OR) rate of patients between the two groups (P>0.05). Patients in the observation group had significantly lower incidence of cardiotoxicity and alopecia than those in the control group (P<0.05). Patients in the observation group had lower incidence of bone marrow depression (BMD) at grade IV than those in the control group (P<0.05). The median progression-free survival time of patients was 14.5 months in the observation group and 18 months in the control group. The progression-free survival rate of patients was 36.11% in the observation group and 40.00% in the control group, with no difference between the two groups (P>0.05). The median survival time of patients was 22.5 months in the observation group and 24.5 months in the control group. The overall survival (OS) rate of patients was 44.44% in the observation group and 47.50% in the control group, with no difference between the two groups (P>0.05). Both pirarubicin combined with cytarabine and mitoxantrone combined with cytarabine have satisfactory efficacy on initially treated AML. Compared to the latter, the former has lower toxic and side effects.