ESTIMATE OF OVERALL TREATMENT RESULTS IN ACUTE NONLYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA BASED ON AGE-SPECIFIC RATES OF INCIDENCE AND OF COMPLETE REMISSION

  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 69  (1) , 5-11
Abstract
It is widely assumed that most patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) are < 60 yr old, that > 50% of all patients can now achieve a complete remission (CR) and that bone marrow transplantation (BMT) represents a signififcant therapeutic breakthrough in this disease. New epidemiological data, presented here show that the median age of patients with ANLL is 62-64 yr with 54%-59% of the patients being > 60 yr old. When combining age-specific incidence data with age-specific data on CR derived from the recent literature, the calculated cumulated rate of CR for all ages combined will be only 35.3-49.2% with current therapy. BMT with its present limitations can at most cure 1.44-2.5% of all patients with ANLL. Some of the accepted conceptions in ANLL regarding age distribution of patients, cumulated rates of CR and value of BMT thus, cannot stand up to closer scrutiny. Treatment priorities and resource allocation in ANLL should be reconsidered, and more attention should be given to solving the problems of treatment in elderly patients.