Treatment of juvenile chronic myeloid leukemia with sequential subcutaneous cytarabine and oral mercaptopurine

Three cases of the juvenile type of chronic myeloid leukemia are described, all of which have shown a clinical and hematologic response to repeated cycles of sequential subcutaneous cytarabine and oral mercaptopurine. It appears that this regime, as described, may afford some control of a disease process previously supposed to be unresponsive to chemotherapy. This control, however, is likely to be reflected in an improvement in well-being, rather than overall survival time. Patient 1 survived 26 mo from diagnosis, and patients 2 and 3 are alive and well 12 and 9 mo from diagnosis, respectively.