title: Twenty-five years of treatment for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in Western Australia: how do we compare?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare survival among the subgroup of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) who were treated at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (PMH) in Perth, Western Australia, over 25 years under 15 consecutive protocols of the Children's Cancer Group (CCG) with survival for the entire cohort of children in multiple centres treated under CCG protocols in that period; and to highlight the benefits of membership of a large cooperative research group conducting multicentre randomised controlled trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of the outcomes of all 311 children with newly diagnosed ALL treated at PMH between 1983 and 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  4-year event-free survival; and 10-year overall survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four-year event-free survival for the entire PMH cohort increased from 66% (SE, 6%) for 1983-1987 to 88% (SE, 6%) for 2002-2005, while overall survival over the same period improved from 78% (SE, 5%) to 94% (SE, 4%). Comparisons of outcomes of children treated at PMH with those of the entire CCG cohort, protocol by protocol, revealed similar outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Outcomes of children treated at PMH over the 25-year period are equivalent to those of the larger CCG cohort.
authors.affiliation: Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Forward
authors.forename: Guicheng C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Catherine H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Cole
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014904:Western Australia