Journal of Clinical Pediatrics ›› 2023, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (3): 204-209.doi: 10.12372/jcp.2023.22e0067

• Hematology and Oncology Disease • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Clinical analysis of treatment failure in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

XUE Yujuan, LU Aidong, WANG Yu, JIA Yueping, ZUO Yingxi, ZHANG Leping()   

  1. People's Hospital, Peking University, Beijing 100044, China
  • Received:2022-01-11 Online:2023-03-15 Published:2023-03-10

Abstract:

Objective To explore the related factors of treatment failure in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods The clinical data of 124 newly diagnosed ALL children with treatment failure admitted from January 2013 to December 2017 were retrospective analyzed. The association of different clinical features with recurrence time and sites was compared and the possible risk factors for treatment failure was analyzed. Results By April 15, 2020, the median follow-up time was 24.0 (14.0-43.5) months. Among the 124 children who failed treatment, 82 were boys and 42 were girls. The median age at first diagnosis was 8.0 (3.3-13.0) years. The reasons for treatment failure included recurrence (104 cases), non-recurrent death (19 cases) and secondary tumor (1 case). Totally 104 ALL children relapsed, whose median recurrence time was 17.7 (3.0-57.2) months. Very early recurrence (52 cases) was the commonest recurrence time, and bone marrow (84 cases) was the commonest recurrence site. The recurrence time was correlated with initial white blood cell count, immunophenotyping, different fusion genes and risk stratifications (P<0.05). The recurrence site was correlated with initial white blood cell count and immunophenotyping (P<0.05). MRD level on day 33 was an independent risk factor for treatment failure survival rate (TFS) and overall survival (OS) rate (P<0.05). Conclusions Recurrence is the main cause of treatment failure in children with ALL. Close monitoring of early treatment response, active prevention and treatment of very early recurrence can reduce the incidence of treatment failure and improve the OS rate of children with ALL.

Key words: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, treatment failure, recurrence, minimal residual disease, child