SURVIVAL OF CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA IN SINGAPORE

The objective of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcome of c hildren with acute leukemias at a university hospital in Singapore. Be tween January 1988 and January 1994, 66 children were treated, compris ing 13 cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 53 of acute lymphobla stic leukemia (ALL). The 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) was comput ed according to the Kaplan-Meier method. The results showed that the s urvival for AML was poor, with a 2-year DFS of only 30%. The major cau se of death for AML was leukemia and leukemia-related complications, s uch as hemorrhage and severe infections. In contrast, a 62% 2-year DFS was achieved for ALL. It was found that marked hepatosplenomegaly (en larged liver and/or spleen greater than or equal to 10 cm below the co stal margin) at presentation correlated with a significantly shortened survival in our patients with ALL. The major cause for treatment fail ure in ALL was recurrence of disease. We conclude that the DFS for our patients with ALL at 2 years was fair. The treatment results for AML were poor, but the numbers are too small to make any definite conclusi ons. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.