Fifty patients with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia were treated with an induction regimen consisting of cytosine arabinoside 100 mg/m2 per day by 18 h i.v. infusion for 7 days, daunorubicin 50 mg/m2 per day by i.v. bolus injection for 3 days and etoposide 75 mg/m2 per day by 1 h i.v. infusion for 7 days. Thirty seven of them (74%) went into complete remission (CR) and they all then received two consecutive courses of consolidation chemotherapy consisting of cytosine arabinoside 500 mg/m2 per day by 1 h i.v. infusion every 12 h for 4 days (total eight doses) and mitoxantrone 12 mg/m2 daily by 30 min i.v. infusion for 3 days. They were followed by maintenance chemotherapy with cytosine arabinoside and thioguanine 2 monthly. With a median follow up time of 24 months, 20 of the 37 complete responders had relapsed (54%). The disease-free survival (DFS) of 37 CR patients and the overall survival of all patients at 24 months were 37 and 44%, respectively. Age of patients and number of courses of induction chemotherapy to achieve CR were significant factors predicting DFS. Myelosuppression was the major toxic side effects. Ten patients had prolonged marrow suppression following consolidation chemotherapy. In conclusion, despite the significant myelosuppression observed, overall improvement in treatment outcome was not demonstrable with the use of this intensive consolidation therapy.