Age, sex, haemoglobin level, and white cell count at diagnosis are important prognostic factors in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatedwith BFM-type protocol
Sm. Ng et al., Age, sex, haemoglobin level, and white cell count at diagnosis are important prognostic factors in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatedwith BFM-type protocol, J TROP PEDI, 46(6), 2000, pp. 338-343
The presenting features and treatment outcome for 575 Malaysian children (l
ess than or equal to 12 years of age) with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblas
tic leukemia (ALL), admitted to the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Mala
ysia between 1 January 1980 and 30 May 1995 were evaluated to determine the
ir prognostic significance, Two-year overall survival was achieved in 67 pe
r cent of all patients and 55 per cent of patients were relapse-free at 2 y
ears. All except 10 patients, with identified French-American-British L3 mo
rphology were treated with the modified Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster 78 treatme
nt protocol. Univariate analyses of failure rate conferred age, sex, white
cell count and hemoglobin level as potentially significant prognostic facto
rs. All four presenting features retained their prognostic strength in a mu
ltivariate analysis, Race, platelet count, morphological subtype, liver/spl
een size, lymphadenopathy, central nervous system and mediastinal mass invo
lvement did not show any significant effect on treatment outcome. The 2-yea
r survival rate was significantly different with regard to age, white cell
count and hemoglobin level, However, sex was not significantly related to o
verall survival, These prognostic factors may have implications on future s
tratification of risk-adjusted initial treatment in the management of child
hood ALL, Our analysis of Malaysian children is similar to what could be pr
edicted based on previous studies in other populations.