title: Treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children with the BFM protocol. A cooperative pilot study.
abstract: From January 1981 through July 1983, 141 children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia were registered in a cooperative clinical study whose objective was to evaluate the toxicity and the feasibility of the German Berlin-Frankfort-Münster (BFM) protocol. The results were comparable with those reported by the BFM group. For the 133 patients (94%) who achieved complete remission, the actuarial disease-free survival was 67% at 4 years. These results were obtained in spite of a high rate of deaths in complete remission during the initial year of the study. Subsequently, probably as a result of improved expertise in the handling of the protocol, the proportion of toxic deaths declined sharply. Although the current BFM protocol adjusts for aggressiveness of therapy according to the volume of the liver and spleen, splenomegaly (but not hepatomegaly) remained of prognostic significance. Moreover, for patients with bad risk features, an initial high hemoglobin level was found to represent an additional factor of negative significance.
authors.affiliation: CHU de Hautepierre, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boilletot
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Behar
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Benoit
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casteels-Van Daele
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chantraine
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Delbeke
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gyselinck
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hainaut
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maurus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003630:Daunorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011241:Prednisone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011379:Prognosis; D013866:Thioguanine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014750:Vincristine / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D003561:Cytarabine; D014750:Vincristine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D013866:Thioguanine; D011241:Prednisone; D008727:Methotrexate; D003630:Daunorubicin