Treatment outcome of young children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: achievements and directions implied from Shanghai Children's Medical Centre based SCMC-ALL-2005 protocol.

This multicenter study used the Shanghai Children's Medical Center (SCMC)-ALL-2005 protocol for treatment of young patients (<2 years old) with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), which was designed to improve treatment outcome in Chinese paediatric patients. These aims were pursued through risk-directed stratification based on presenting clinical and genetic features, minimal residual disease (MRD) levels and treatment response. All the patients achieved completed remission with 5-year event-free survivals of 82·6 ± 9·7% (low risk), 52·6 ± 8·4% (intermediate risk), 28·6 ± 17·1% (high risk). Disease recurrence was detected in bone marrow, bone marrow plus testis, testis alone and central nervous system in 16 (24·2%), 1 (1·5%), 1 (1·5%) and 1 (1·5%) patients respectively. No deaths were reported during induction. The SCMC-ALL-2005 trial for ALL patients <2 years old indicated high remission induction and low infection and treatment-related mortality rates.