PURPOSE: To compare pediatric and adult therapeutic practices in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adolescents.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 1997 to December 2007, 34 and 11 adolescents (10 to 20 years of age) were treated according to German pediatric BFM 90 and 95 and adult BFM 84 protocols, respectively. Age, B/T lineage, WBC count, complete remission, cytogenetics, and response to steroids were analyzed. Age, B/T lineage and WBC count were similar. Poor risk-cytogenetics (t (9;22),t(4;11) and hypodiploidy less than 45 chromosomes were present only in BFM 90 and 95 group. Among the different prognostic factors, we retrospectively analyzed the effect of the trial on achieving overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS).

RESULTS: OS in 10 years and EFS was, respectively, 68.6% and 68.7% for the pediatric protocol and 31.4% and 21.6% for the adult protocol.

CONCLUSION: This study’s findings were similar to others in USA, UK, France, Italy and Holland that clearly demonstrate that current pediatric regimens are more effective for adolescents and may contribute to indicate that adolescents should be included in intensive pediatric protocols. Keywords: leukemia, survival, adolescent.

Topics:
acute lymphocytic leukemia, adolescent, child, young adult, complete remission, leukemia, prognostic factors, steroids, leukocyte count, italy

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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2008, The American Society of Hematology
2008
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