Long‐term survival of children with acute non‐lymphoblastic leukemia

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Abstract
Results of a pilot protocol employing chemoimmunotherapy for treatment of 23 children with acute non‐lymphoblastic leukemia consecutively diagnosed between 1975 and 1979 are reported. Twenty‐two children achieved remission, ten of whom are surviving 6.5–9.5 years after completion of primary systemic therapy (median 7.8 years). Treatment consisted of intermittent courses of Daunomycin, Cytosine Arabinoside, 6‐Thioguanine, VP‐16, with or without Decadron. Connaught BCC applied between courses of chemotherapy for the first 8 months of treatment, and cranial irradiation/intrathecal Cytosine Arabinoside in early first remission. Five patients with leukemic cells in spinal fluid at diagnosis had myelomonoblastic or monoblastic subtypes and a median diagnostic white blood cell count (WBC) of 149,000/mm3 compared with a median WBC of 12,000/mm3 for the other 18 patients (P = .007).