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Prognostic factors in elderly acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Author(s) -
LEGRAND OLLIVIER,
MARIE JEANPIERRE,
MARJANOVIC ZORA,
CADIOU MONIQUE,
BLANC CLAUDE,
RAMOND SYLVIE,
VIGUIÉ FRANCK,
PERROT JEANYVES,
ZITTOUN ROBERT
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.1997.952909.x
Subject(s) - medicine , lymphoblastic leukemia , acute lymphocytic leukemia , childhood leukaemia , oncology , pediatrics , leukemia
A retrospective study was performed on 46 unselected acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) elderly patients aged 60 years or more. Only 50% of these patients were included in the EORTC cooperative clinical trials, thus confirming the important selection bias in most of the published series on elderly ALL patients. 43% of the elderly patients achieved a complete remission (CR). The median survival was 10 months and the 5‐year overall survival was only 7.6±4%. In multivariate analysis, W.H.O. performance status and peripheral blast counts at day 7 were found to significantly influence achievement of CR and survival. In patients with W.H.O. performance status 2, 35% died during induction treatment versus 4% in patients with W.H.O. performance status <2. Patients >70 years old showed a marked drop of the CR rate (27%) compared to those aged 60–69 (67%), and a very high death rate during the induction period (38% versus 4%). This suggests that ALL protocol treatments should be proposed until 70 years in patients with good‐performance status, whereas less intensive treatment should be offered to elderly patients with performance status 2 and/or age 70. Peripheral blast counts at day 7 may help to adjust the treatment during induction phase.