Maintenance treatments for acute myeloid leukemia

Maintenance is a third phase of treatment that may be used for people with AML that has intermediate or unfavourable chromosome changes. Maintenance follows consolidation. The goal of maintenance treatment for AML is to prevent leukemia cells from coming back (called relapse) and clear any leukemia cells that might remain (called measurable residual disease). Maintenance therapy may be given for a long time until the disease progresses or it becomes too hard to cope with the side effects.

Chemotherapy uses anticancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy is the main maintenance treatment for AML. Maintenance chemotherapy may be given to people with AML with intermediate or unfavourable chromosome changes who are unable to have a stem cell transplant. Maintenance chemotherapy is most commonly given as oral azacitidine (Onureg).

Find out more about chemotherapy for AML.

Targeted therapy uses drugs to target specific molecules (such as proteins) on cancer cells or inside them to stop the growth and spread of cancer.

Sorafenib (Nexavar) is an FLT3 inhibitor that may be used as maintenance therapy for people who have received a stem cell transplant and are in remission from AML with the FLT3 mutation.

Find out more about targeted therapy for AML.

Supportive therapy is important during every phase of AML treatment. It is used to treat the complications that usually happen with treatments for AML and the disease itself.

Supportive therapies given during maintenance treatment may include:

• antibiotics and antifungals to treat infections
• growth factors to help the bone marrow recover from chemotherapy (chemotherapy can affect the bone marrow so it doesn’t make enough healthy blood cells, which can increase the risk for infection)
• transfusions of red blood cells, platelets, fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate (a product that replaces clotting factors) as needed

Find out more about supportive therapy.

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with AML in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.