Duration of chemotherapy in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The Medical Research Council's Working Party on Leukaemia in Childhood.
In three childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) therapeutic trials a total of 493 patients still in first remission 18 months or 2 years after starting treatment were randomly allocated to stop treatment or continue to 3 years. Periods of 18 months or 2 years were as effective as 3 years for girls, but for boys 18 months was inferior to 3 years, although there was little difference between 2 and 3 years. These conclusions refer only to the treatment regimens employed in these trials, however, and in view of the rather different results for girls in a later trial and the high testicular and marrow relapse rates in boys, the results must be interpreted cautiously. Disease-free survival 5 years after randomisation to stop or continue treatment was 76% for girls, but only 40% for boys.
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001855:Bone Marrow Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009423:Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D011897:Random Allocation; D012737:Sex Factors; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D013997:Time Factors
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents