Clofarabine, Cytarabine, and Idarubicin in Treating Patients With Intermediate-Risk or High-Risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia or High-Risk Myelodysplasia

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Diagnosis of 1 of the following by WHO criteria:

  * Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (≥ 20% bone marrow blasts by bone marrow aspiration or biopsy)

    * No acute promyelocytic leukemia (M3)
    * All cytogenetic groups allowed, except for the following:

      * t(15;17)
      * t(8;21) or inv(16) AND a WBC count at diagnosis of \< 100,000/μL
    * Primary or secondary AML allowed, including AML after myelodysplasia (MDS)
  * High-risk MDS (≥ 10% bone marrow blasts by bone marrow aspiration or biopsy)
* No chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis or AML supervening a myeloproliferative disorder
* Previously untreated disease, except for ≤ 14 days of hydroxyurea
* No CNS leukemia

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* WHO performance status 0-2
* Serum creatinine ≤ 1.0 mg/dL or glomerular filtration rate \> 60 mL/min
* AST/ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* ALP ≤ 2.5 times ULN
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective barrier contraception during and for ≥ 3 months after completion of study treatment
* No active uncontrolled infection
* No HIV positivity
* No psychological, familial, sociological, or geographical conditions precluding compliance with study treatment or follow up
* No concurrent severe uncontrolled cardiovascular disease (i.e., symptomatic congestive heart failure or symptomatic ischemic heart disease \[NYHA class III-IV\])
* No concurrent malignant disease

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* No concurrent cytotoxic drugs or experimental therapies (e.g., antiangiogenic drugs, tyrosine kinase inhibitors)