The evolution of clinical trials for infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The evolution of clinical trials for infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants has a significantly inferior outcome in comparison with older children. Despite initial improvements in survival of infants with ALL since establishment of the first pediatric cooperative group ALL trials, the poor outcome has plateaued in recent years. Historically, infants were treated on risk-adapted childhood ALL protocols. These studies were pi...

Infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants under 12 months of age accounts for about 4% of childhood ALL and differs from ALL in older children with respect to immunophenotypic, cytogenetic and molecular genetic features. In contrast to the predominance of male sex in older children with ALL, there is a slight predominance of girls in infant ALL (1). In infant leukemia, all necessary genetic...

Simultaneous Neuroblastoma and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in an Infant

Presenting Clinical and Laboratory Data of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract Background Leukemia is the most prevalent childhood cancer and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) constitutes 75% of all cases. The most frequent presenting symptoms are fever, weight loss and pallor. Early detection of clinical symptoms positively affects timely diagnosis. The objectives of the present study were to assess frequency of presenting symptoms, laboratory data, immune ph...

Considerations in the design of clinical trials for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric malignancy. Although outcomes for children with ALL have improved dramatically over the last 50 years, ALL remains the leading cause of childhood cancer death. In addition, high-risk patient subsets can be identified with significantly inferior survival. In the current era of therapies directed at specific molecular targets, the us...