OBJECTIVETo investigate factors associated with survival of patients with Ph chromosome positive adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (aALL) in a period of 11 years.

METHODSAll the clinical parameters of 31 Ph positive patients were statistically analyzed by SPSS software.

RESULTPh(+) patients account for 15.3% (31/203) of all the aALL patients. Clinically, these patients manifested older in age, higher white blood cell counts with high blast fractions and lower platelet counts (PC). Phenotypically 82.6% of them were common ALL, 39.1% coexpressed myeloid antigens, and 56.5% expressed CD34 antigen. 65.4% of them (17/26) achieved complete remission (CR) and the median remission and survival durations were 4 months and 8 months, respectively. Patients with Ph(+) and additional chromosomal aberrations accounted for 42% of all the Ph(+) patients, including monosomy 7, +Ph, del(9)(p11-12) and add/t(16)(p13), and they had lower PC as compared with those with sole Ph(+) (P = 0.012) and variant Ph translocation (P = 0.01). CD34 positive patients had a shorter remission and survival duration than CD34 negative ones (0 vs 9 months for median remission time, P = 0.024; and 6 vs 12 months for median survival time, P = 0.034). There was no evidence to support the correlation between myeloid antigen expression and survival time in these patients.

CONCLUSIONPh(+) aALL is associated with adverse prognosis and CD34 expression is a poorer prognostic factor in Ph(+) aALL patients. There is no significant clinical difference between Ph(+) aALL with or without additional chromosomal aberrations.