title: Impact of three methods of treatment intensification on acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children: long-term results of St Jude total therapy study X.
abstract: Long-term follow-up observations are reported on 427 patients who received one of three different intensified therapies in total therapy study X for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In the trial for 'standard-risk' ALL, 154 of 309 patients in complete remission were randomized to receive high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX, 1 g/m2) periodically during the first 72 of 120 weeks of standard continuation therapy with 6-mercaptopurine and oral MTX; the remaining 155 patients received 1800 cGy cranial irradiation and intrathecal MTX, followed by 6-mercaptopurine/MTX therapy interrupted from week 36-71 for substitution of two other pairs of drugs. At 9 years of follow-up, significantly higher proportions of patients in the HDMTX group have maintained complete remissions (64 +/- 7%, SE, vs. 52 +/- 6%, p = 0.03), hematologic remissions (73 +/- 6% vs. 62 +/- 6%, p = 0.03), and testicular remissions (94 +/- 5% vs. 80 +/- 8%, p = 0.03); however, the proportion continuing in central nervous system remission has been lower (84 +/- 5% vs 93 +/- 4%, p = 0.02). In the evaluation of teniposide/cytarabine and delayed cranial irradiation for 'high-risk' ALL, 36 +/- 9% of 101 patients are predicted to be event-free survivors at 9 years. Altogether, 217 (51%) of the 427 patients are event-free survivors after at least 7 years of follow-up (median, 9 years); an additional 75 patients are alive and free of leukemia for a median of 6.4 years after successful remission retrieval therapy, boosting the total number of long-term survivors to 292 (68%). These results establish the efficacy of HDMTX for patients with standard-risk ALL and indicate the potential of teniposide/cytarabine for use in multiagent regimens for patients with high-risk disease. The overall survival figure, 68%, affords a benchmark for other studies assessing long-term outcome in ALL.
authors.affiliation: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Pui
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Simone
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Bowman
authors.forename: G V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Dahl
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Dodge
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ochs
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abromowitch
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000633:toxicity; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000628:therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction
chemical_list: D008727:Methotrexate