All issues > Volume 29(12); 1986

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1986;29(12):1343-1351. Published online December 31, 1986.

Results of Treatment in Children with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Saeng Gu Cho¹, Tai Ju Hwang¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Chonnam University, Kwangju, Korea

Abstract

The clinical findings on the 1st examination in 70 patients who were admitted to the pediatric department of Chonnam University Hospital from January, 1977 to January, 1985 as well as the results of treatment in 32 patients were analyzed. The most frequent age at onset was 4-5 years(15 patients). Male patients outnumbered female patients by 1.6 : 1. A mediastinal mass and central nervous system involvement was found in 4 cases (5.7%) Hepatosplenomegaly was found in 57 cases (81.4%). Of the 70 patients, 36 cases were classified into L 1 type(51.4%), 30 cases L 2 type(42.9%) and 4 cases L 3 type (5.7%) according to FAB classification. Recurrences were found in 16 cases; the site being primarily in bone marrcw. The duration of remission and survival time were shorter in higher risk groups, based upon age and white blood cell counts on admission(p<. 05). The remission rate tended to be slightly higher in PRD-VCR-DNM group than in PRD-VCR group, but no statistically significant difference was found (p>. 05). The duration of remission was much longer and the recurrence rate was significantly lower in the group receiving monthly pulse therapy with VCR-PRD(p<. 05). The overall remission rate was 84.2%, the recurrence rate 50%, and the mean length of survival was 21.6 months. We suggest that modifications of ALL treatment regimens might be necessary depending on prognostic factors. Additional prospective studies on a larger scale are needed.

Keywords :ALL; Clinical findings; Results of treatment.