title: Results of cessation of treatment in childhood acute lymphocytic leukaemia.
abstract: From 1972 to 1977, 55 of 161 children with acute lymphocytic leukaemia discontinued treatment after being in continuous complete remission for three years. A low total white cell count as diagnosis (less than 10 X 10(9)/L) was significantly associated with cessation of therapy, but there was no significant association with age or sex. Nine patients have relapsed, all but one within 50 weeks of cessation of treatment. Testicular relapse occurred only in one patient. Actuarial complete remission rate with a median duration of follow-up 140 weeks was 76%, and there was no significant sex difference. It is proposed that the relatively good prognosis in boys after cessation of therapy may be related to limited use of steroids during induction chemotherapy.
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D013997:Time Factors