title: Treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia with protocol TCL821: a report of Taiwan Children's Cancer Study Group.
abstract: Of 110 previously untreated patients who had entered the study of protocol TCL821, 96 were evaluable. The patients were divided into a standard risk group (Group I) and a high risk group (Group II) depending on their age and leukocyte count at the time of diagnosis. Treatment consisted of a 5-week induction therapy course with prednisolone (PRED), vincristine (VCR) and adriamycin (ADM) followed by central nervous system (CNS) prophylaxis. Maintenance therapy consisted of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) plus methotrexate (MTX) for 3 years and 6-MP alone for another 2 years, reinforced with dexamethasone, VCR and ADM or cytosine-arabinoside (Ara-C) or cyclophosphamide (CTX) every 16 weeks for Group I and 8 weeks for Group II for 3 years. Immunologic typing was done in 74 cases which revealed 60.9% of the common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) type, 14.9% null cell type, 4.0% undifferentiated type, 4.0% Pre-B cell type, 4.0% B cell type, 10.8% Pre-T cell type and 1.4% T cell type. In Group I the complete remission rate (CR) was 100% and the continuous complete remission rate (CCR) was 72.2% with a follow-up duration of 40-73 months. In Group II, both CR and CCR were 92.9% and 45.8% respectively. The incidence of patients with Pre-T cell type was higher in this study than in most other reports, and these patients responded favorably to treatment.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001215:Asparaginase / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015122:Mercaptopurine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000628:therapy*; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012074:Remission Induction; D013624:Taiwan; D014750:Vincristine / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D003561:Cytarabine; D014750:Vincristine; D003907:Dexamethasone; D004317:Doxorubicin; D011239:Prednisolone; D015122:Mercaptopurine; D001215:Asparaginase; D006854:Hydrocortisone; D008727:Methotrexate