Abstract
It is obvious from the many publications on the subject that long-term survivors, defined as those patients who survive either with or without evidence of the disease for more than 5 years from the diagnosis, do occur in acute leukemia [1–5]. Previous studies have shown that those patients surviving for 5 years have a 50% chance of surviving indefinitely [6]. Most of those who relapse will do so between the 5th and 8th years, and only a very few after the 9th year. For instance, of the 101 patients reported as 5-year survivors in 1964, 64 were living and well at that time with no evidence of the disease. In the ensuing 4 years, 6 of these had relapsed so that there were 58 out of 101 surviving with no evidence of the disease, or an annual drop-off of approximately 2.5% [7].
These studies were supported in part by National Cancer Institute Grants CA-08748 and CA-05826 and American Cancer Society Grant T-45.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Burchenal, J. H., Murphy, M. L.: Long-term survivors in acute leukemia. Cancer Res. 25, 1491–1494 (1965).
Dameshek, W., Mitus, W. J.: Seven-year remission in an adult with acute leukemia. New Engl. J. Med. 268, 870–873 (1963).
Brubaker, C. A., Wheeler, H. E., Sonley, M. J., Williams, K. O., Hammond, D.: Cyclic chemotherapy for acute leukemia in children. Blood 21, 820–821 (1963).
Zuelzer, W. W.: Formal discussion: Long-term survivors. Cancer Res. 25, 1495–1498 (1965).
— Implications of long-term survival in acute stem cell leukemia of childhood treated with composite cyclic therapy. Blood 24, 477–494 (1964).
Burchenal, J. H.: Long-term survival in Burkitt’s tumor and in acute leukemia. Cancer Res. 27, 2616–2618 (1967).
— Analysis of long-term survival in acute leukemia and Burkitt’s tumor—effects to be expected from intensive therapy and asparaginase. Proceedings of the Sixth National Cancer Conference, Denver 1968. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. 1970.
Zuelzer, W. W.: Therapy of acute leukemia in childhood. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Leukemia-Lymphoma. Ed.: C. J. D. Zarafonetis. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger 1968, p. 451.
Acute Leukemia Group B: New treatment schedule with improved survival in childhood leukemia. Intermittent parental vs. daily oral administration of methotrexate for maintenance of induced remission. J. Amer. med. Ass. 194, 75–81 (1965)
Selawry, O.: Personal communication.
Henderson, E. S.: Evidence that drugs in multiple combinations have materially advanced the treatment of human malignancies. Cancer Res. Dec. 1969.
Freireich, E. J., Karon, M., Frei, E. III.: Quadruple combination therapy (VAMP) for acute lymphocytic leukemia of childhood. Proc. Amer. Ass. Cancer Res. 5, 20 (1964).
Henderson, E. S., Freireich, E. J., Karon, M., Rossee, W.: High dose combination chemotherapy in acute lymphocytic leukemia of childhood. Proc. Amer. Ass. Cancer Res. 7, 30 (1966).
Holland, J. F.: Complementary chemotherapy in acute leukemia. This volume, p. 95-108.
Burchenal, J. H.: Clinical evaluation and future prospects of asparaginase. This volume, p. 20-27.
Mathé, G., Amiel, J. L., Schwarzenberg, L., Schneider, M., Cattan, A., Schlum-berger, J. R., Hayat, M., De Vassal, F.: Active immunotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Lancet 1969 I, 697-699.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1970 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Burchenal, J.H. (1970). Long-Term Survivors in Acute Leukemia. In: Mathé, G. (eds) Advances in the Treatment of Acute (Blastic) Leukemias. Recent Results in Cancer Research / Fortschritte der Krebsforschung / Progrès dans les recherches sur le cancer, vol 30 . Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-35334-9_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-35334-9_26
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-34998-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-35334-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive