Open AccessScience, medicine, and the future: Childhood leukaemia
Author(s) -
M. F. Greaves
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
bmj
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.831
H-Index - 429
ISSN - 0959-8138
DOI - 10.1136/bmj.324.7332.283
Subject(s) - medicine , spontaneous breathing trial , mechanical ventilation , receiver operating characteristic , pressure support ventilation , ventilation (architecture) , tidal volume , ventilator weaning , respiratory minute volume , weaning , peak inspiratory pressure , anesthesia , emergency medicine , respiratory system , engineering , mechanical engineering
The risk of any child developing acute leukaemia is about 1 in 2000 with 400-450 new cases a year in the United Kingdom. Cure rates approaching 75% can be achieved with combination chemotherapy, but this figure disguises success rates that vary from 10% to 90% with the different biological subtypes of the disease. In this review I discuss how new insights into the underlying molecular biology of leukaemia have changed our understanding of the disease. Not only is there the prospect of better treatment and the introduction of new biologically based therapies, but, as the causes of disease are being unravelled, the possibility of prevention may not just be wishful thinking.
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