Current treatment options for adult patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The clinical management of patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been challenging primarily due to the aggressive nature of the disease and limited effective treatment options. The outcome for patients who receive conventional chemotherapy alone is poor, with remission duration of around 12 months and disease-free survival (DFS) rates of not more than 10%. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) has been the only known curative treatment option, but is limited by the availability of a matched donor and the risk of treatment-related mortality.

What determines the outcomes for adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated on cooperative group protocols? A comparison of Children's Cancer Group and Cancer and Leukemia Group B studies.

We performed a retrospective comparison of presenting features, planned treatment, complete remission (CR) rate, and outcome of 321 adolescents and young adults (AYAs) ages 16 to 20 years with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were treated on consecutive trials in either the Children's Cancer Group (CCG) or the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) from 1988 to 2001. CR rates were identical, 90% for both CALGB and CCG AYAs. CCG AYAs had a 63% event-free survival (EFS) and 67% overall survival (OS) at 7 years in contrast to the CALGB AYAs, in which 7-year EFS was only 34% (P < .

Prognosis after rectal cancer in blacks and whites participating in adjuvant therapy randomized trials.

Purpose: National health statistics indicate that blacks have lower survival rates from colorectal cancer than do whites. This disparity has been attributed to differences in stage at diagnosis and other disease features, extent and quality of treatment, and socioeconomic factors. We evaluated outcomes for blacks and whites with rectal cancer who participated in randomized clinical trials of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP).