Late intensification therapy for acute leukemia in remission. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Nineteen patients in continous complete remission of acute leukemia for at least one year received late intensification therapy, after which they received no further chemotherapy, but most received BCG immunotherapy. Five patients have relapsed. The 14 patients still in remission have been followed up for at least 60 weeks after late intensification, with a median time of 98 weeks. The length of complete remission subsequent to a comparable time was 44 weeks for a reference control group and 24 weeks for a matched control group. These results support this type of approach for long-term control of acute leukemia in adults.