International Journal of Pediatrics 2011;38(1):38-40

doi:10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-4408.2011.01.014

Progress in treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in adolescents

Na ZHANG

Keywords

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Adolescents; Children; Adults

Country

China

Language

Chinese

Abstract

The development of effective therapy for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is one of the greatest successes of clinical oncology. However, cure rates for adults with ALL remain relatively low. Adolescents are the special population between children and adults. These patients group will be received protocol from either pediatric or adult oncologists depending on referral pattern. In recent years, researchers from abroad large cooperative groups show pediatric-based protocol has better outcome than adult-based protocol. In this article, the protocol of ALL in children and adults are compared . It seems the first and probably the most important reason is the dose intensity of the nonmyelosuppressive chemotherapeutic agents, especially asparaginase.