Continuity of paediatric care for adolescents and young adults with leukaemia: a single-centre experience from China.

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with leukaemia represent a unique population but face fragmented care between paediatric and adult systems. A retrospective study of AYA patients (≥14 years old) with leukaemia treated at Shanghai Children's Medical Center between September 2023 and March 2025 found acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) was predominant (152/189). AYA ALL patients showed a higher prevalence of high-risk subtypes like T-ALL and BCR::ABL1, while favourable ETV6::RUNX1 was rare. Paediatric protocols achieved a 5-year event-free survival of 75.2% and overall survival of 89.6%, comparable to young children. These findings show that paediatric-based therapy for AYA ALL can be effective, although prospective comparative studies are still needed.