Long-term results of treatment studies for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Pediatric Oncology Group studies from 1986-1994

This paper presents the long-term results of treatment for children with ac ute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as conducted by the Pediatric Oncology Gro up (POG) from 1986 to 1994. The data are presented using standard NCI/Rome risk criteria. The overall event-free survival (EFS) at 5 and 10 years were 70.9% and 67.3% for children with B-precursor ALL, 51.0% and 50.2%, far pa tients with T cell ALL, and 22.4% and 20.9% for infants with ALL. Concomita nt biologic studies found that in B-precursor ALL a DNA index (DI) of great er than or equal to1.16 and trisomies of bath chromosomes 4 and 10 were goo d prognostic indicators for patients with B-precursor ALL. The traditional prognostic indicators (age and white count), DI and trisomies did not predi ct outcome in patients with T cell disease. Infants continued to do poorly overall despite more intensive therapy with rotating pairs of chemotherapy. We recommend continued reporting of study results using common risk criter ia in order to facilitate comparisons both within and across study groups.