Chemotherapy in canine acute megakaryoblastic leukemia: a case report and review of the literature.

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in dogs is a rare disease with poor prognosis. In most subjects, palliative treatment or euthanasia is performed. A 3.5-year-old male castrated labrador with AML-M7, which was treated with induction polychemotherapy (8 cycles) using vincristine (0.5 mg/m(2)/cycle), daunorubicin (20 mg/m(2)/cycle), cytosine arabinoside (ARA-C, 100 mg/m(2)/cycle) and prednisolone (1 mg/kg/day) is reported. Treatment was well tolerated and complete remission was achieved. Postinduction chemotherapy consisted of ARA-C, daunorubicin and prednisolone. After 3, 5 and 18 months, the subject relapsed. Each relapse was treated with ARA-C (up to 1,000 mg/m(2)) and etoposide or daunorubicin. Again, no severe side-effects occurred and the disease was controlled, with 37 chemotherapy-cycles (ARA-C, 3 x 1,000 mg/m(2)/cycle), for 24 months. Based on a literature-search, this is the first report documenting a long-term response of canine AML, probably resulting from the high-dose ARA-C. Clinical trials using high-dose ARA-C are now required to confirm antileukemic efficacy in canine leukemias.

• Authors: Michael Willmann, Leonhard Müllauer, Ilse Schwendenwein, Birgitt Wolfesberger, Miriam Kleiter, Maximilian Pagitz, Emir Hadzijusufovic, Sarina Shibly, Martin Reifinger, Johann G Thalhammer, Peter Valent
• Journal: In vivo (Athens, Greece) (In Vivo) 2009 Nov-Dec Vol. 23 Issue 6 Pg. 911-8 ISSN: 0258-851X [Print] Greece
• PMID: 20023232 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Cytarabine
• Vincristine
• Etoposide
• Prednisolone
• Daunorubicin

Topics

• Animals
• Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols (therapeutic use)
• Bone Marrow Cells (drug effects, pathology)
• Cytarabine (administration & dosage)
• Daunorubicin (administration & dosage)
• Dog Diseases (drug therapy)
• Dogs
• Etoposide (administration & dosage)
• Leukemia, Megakaryoblastic, Acute (drug therapy, pathology, veterinary)
• Male
• Prednisolone (administration & dosage)
• Remission Induction
• Secondary Prevention
• Vincristine (administration & dosage)