Survival of Mexican Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Under Treatment with the Protocol from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 00-01

Our aim in this paper is to describe the results of treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in Mexican children treated from 2006 to 2010 under the protocol from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) 00-01. The children were younger than 16 years of age and had a diagnosis of ALL de novo. The patients were classified as standard risk if they were 1-9.9 years old and had a leucocyte count <50 × 10(9)/L, precursor B cell immunophenotype, no mediastinal mass, CSF free of blasts, and a good response to prednisone. The rest of the patients were defined as high risk. Of a total of 302 children, 51.7% were at high risk. The global survival rate was 63.9%, and the event-free survival rate was 52.3% after an average follow-up of 3.9 years. The percentages of patients who died were 7% on induction and 14.2% in complete remission; death was associated mainly with infection (21.5%). The relapse rate was 26.2%. The main factor associated with the occurrence of an event was a leucocyte count >100 × 10(9)/L. The poor outcomes were associated with toxic death during induction, complete remission, and relapse. These factors remain the main obstacles to the success of this treatment in our population.