Importance of long-term follow-up in evaluating treatment regimens for adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia Journal Article


Authors: Clarkson, B.; Gaynor, J.; Little, C.; Berman, E.; Kempin, S.; Andreeff, M.; Gulati, S.; Cunningham, I.; Gee, T.
Article Title: Importance of long-term follow-up in evaluating treatment regimens for adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Abstract: During the past 20 years, we have treated 250 previously untreated adults (greater than age 15 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with five successive multidrug protocols: L2, L10, L10M, L17/17M, and L20. The L10 and L10M protocols had the highest percentage of long-term (greater than 5 years) remissions (52% and 40% respectively) compared with the L2 and more recent protocols (24%-32%); this is partly attributable to a greater prevalence of adverse risk factors among the latter protocols. The overall long-term survival of the first 199 patients with minimum 3 years follow-up is now 31%, with 35% of the 163 patients achieving complete remission (CR) remaining free of relapse for greater than 5 years. The disease-free survival of the 163 patients reaches a plateau of 33% after 6 years. The percentages of patients subsequently relapsing after remaining in continuous CR for 1.5, 3, and 5 years are 42%, 28%, and 6%, respectively; no relapses have yet occurred after 6 years in this series. Postrelapse survival improved progressively with longer duration of first remission. The results of treatment in second or later remission with either chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation (BMT) were unsatisfactory and there were only a few long-term survivors. Recently we have attempted to select patients at highest risk of early relapse for BMT in first remission, but the number of eligible patients actually having BMTs has been low for a variety of reasons, including early death, failure to reach CR, early relapse, patient refusal, or medical contraindications.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Keywords: adolescent; adult; survival rate; clinical trial; mortality; review; multimodality cancer therapy; united states; comparative study; combined modality therapy; follow up; methodology; follow-up studies; antineoplastic agent; randomized controlled trial; antineoplastic combined chemotherapy protocols; drug screening; risk; randomized controlled trials; acute lymphocytic leukemia; bone marrow transplantation; drug evaluation; leukemia, lymphocytic, acute; human
Journal Title: Haematology and Blood Transfusion
Volume: 33
ISSN: 0171-7111
Publisher: Springer New York LLC  
Date Published: 1990-01-01
Start Page: 397
End Page: 408
Language: English
PUBMED: 2182430
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-74643-7_75
DOI/URL:
Notes: In "Acute Leukemias II: Prognostic Factors and Treatment Strategies" (ISBN: 978-3-540-50984-4) -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Ellin Berman
    173 Berman
  2. Bayard Clarkson
    220 Clarkson
  3. Claudia   Little
    12 Little
  4. Subhash C. Gulati
    129 Gulati
  5. Timothy Gee
    46 Gee
  6. Jeffrey J. Gaynor
    36 Gaynor
  7. Sanford Kempin
    35 Kempin