1966•Clinical Pharmacology & TherapeuticsRequires access
The role of vincristine in the treatment of childhood acute leukemia
Myron Karon, Emil J. Freireich, Emil Frei, Robert Taylor, Irving J. Wolman, Isaac Djerassi, Stanley L. Lee, Arthur Sawitsky, Juliet Hananian, Oleg S. Selawry, David H. James, Phillip George, Richard B. Patterson, Omer Burgert, Farid I. Haurani, Richard A. Oberfield, Candace Macy, Barth Hoogstraten, Johannes Blom
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Abstract
In a study of 117 patients under the age of 20 with acute leukemia, vincristine (VCR), at 2 mg. per square meter body surface per week, produced complete remissions in 55 per cent and partial remissions in 15 per cent. The drug also induced second remissions. Patients entering complete remission with VCR were randomly allocated to maintenance therapy with VCR or placebo. The median duration of remission was short: 9 weeks for VCR compared with 6 weeks for placebo. The probability of serious neurological toxicity computed according to the time of exposure to VCR, based on the supposition that VCR was not used for maintenance therapy, indicated that the minimal theoretical risk of toxicity for the highest complete remission rate occurred at 4 weeks (38 per cent remissions with 5 per cent toxicity). At 6 weeks, the corresponding probabilities were 54 and 16 per cent.