title: Proportion of long-term event-free survivors and lifetime of adult patients not cured after a standard acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapeutic program: adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia-94 trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia, treatment results generally are expressed in terms of overall survival or disease-free survival at 3 years. In this investigation, the authors attempted to express the results in terms of the proportion of long-term disease-free survivors and in terms of lifetime in patients who developed recurrent disease or died.
  
  
  METHODS
  Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess the influence of different covariates on the 2 result criteria in 922 participants in the Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-94 multicenter trial.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportion of long-term survivors was 21.5% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 18.1-25.4%) and was higher in women than in men. The proportion decreased with increasing age, white blood cell count, and lactate dehydrogenase level. The lowest proportion was observed in patients ages 44 years to 55 years (11.4%; 95% CI, 7-17.9%) and in patients with the t(9;22) BCR-ABL karyotype (13.4%; 95% CI, 8.8-19.8%), and the highest proportion was observed in patients with the t(4;11) MLL-AF4 karyotype (31.3%; 95% CI, 18.2-48.3%). The mean expected lifetime of patients who were not cured was 11.4 months (95% CI, 9.1-14.1 months). It was longer in men than in women and was shorter with increasing age, performance status, hemoglobin level, and white blood cell count.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study highlighted and specified the importance of some classic prognostic factors in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
authors.affiliation: Service d'Hematologie, Hopital Edouard Herriot, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Quoc-Hung
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ecochard
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iwaz
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lhéritier
authors.forename: Mauricette
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michallet
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fiere
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016313:Genes, abl / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein / Q000235:genetics; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: C113855:MLL-AF4 fusion protein, human; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase