Sixteen patients with previously untreated acute nonlymphocytic leukemia were treated with a combination of aclacinomycin A (ACM-A) and behenoyl ara-C (BH-AC) at Saitama Cancer Center between April 1980 and February 1983. The complete remission was obtained in 10 of 16 patients (62.5%) (M1, 0/1 M2, 8/8, M3, 0/2, M4, 2/5). A combination of daunorubicin (DNR) and cytosine arabinoside (ARA-C) was crossed over to 5 patients who failed to respond to primary treatment of a combined ACM-A and BH-AC. All of these attained the complete remission. The cumulative dose of over 600 mg/m2 of ACM-A has been given to 7 patients as maintenance treatment. The maximum cumulative dose was 2000 mg/m2. The median survival time for all patients was 12 months, and the median survival with complete remission has not been reached; however, it is estimated to be greater than 24 months. ACM-A seemed to induce long-term maintenance when it was used as maintenance treatment. The results have demonstrated that a combination of ACM-A and BH-AC shows equivalent activity with that of a combined DNR and ARA-C in terms of remission induction and remission maintenance.