Avaliação da qualidade de vida de sobreviventes de leucemia na infância

The progressive success of therapeutic plans for malignant neoplasias that started in childhood allowed an important increase in the survival rate of carriers during the last decades. However, late sequelae secondary to the toxicity of such plans shall be duly monitored. Considering the importance of evaluating the aspects of physical and mental health, as well as emotional and social factors of the survivors, the quality of life of the interviewed persons was evaluated by an alternative approach: telephone calls. The SF-36 questionnaire (Medical Outcomes Study 36 – Item Short Form Health Survey), validated for the Portuguese language, was applied to thirty persons with more than 18 years of age and of both sexes, survivors of acute lymphocytic leukemia, without antineoplastic therapy for at least five years, under medical attendance at the Ambulatory outside the ITACI therapy (experimental group), and also to thirty healthy persons, matched by sex and age to the experimental group (control group). Analyzed survivors scored higher in all aspects SF-36 than the average value. The average results of the total points were statistically similar to the control group. SF-36 provides valuable data for the health team to establish therapeutic procedures to survivors. Evaluation by phone became an important resource in the ambulatory follow-up of this population. Survivors of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia are presently showing appropriate scores of quality of life.