[Acute leukemia in the child: quality of the "cure". Apropos of 41 cases].

The authors studied retrospectively a group of 41 children in prolonged remission of Acute Leukemia (AL) or Non Hodgkin Malignant Lymphoma (NHML) treated with polychemotherapy and prophylactic cranial irradiation, searching for late side effects of the disease or its treatment. The neurological follow-up was satisfying enough (only one major sequela); growth abnormalities were found in 57.5% of children (correlated with hormonal deficiency), and some thyroid and gonadal impairments. Psychoaffective disturbances seemed to be moderate, but difficulties in learning and persistence of anxiety are emphasized. Estimation of cardiac function showed left ventricular alterations in two patients, detected by echocardiography, perhaps related to anthracyclines toxicity. Immunohematological investigations showed an apparent recovery for the first year following the end of the treatment, except for 5 inverted T4/T8 ratios and partial vaccine protection. No liver dysfunction was noticed, although positive HB serological assays were 3 fold more frequent than in a normal population. Lastly, no secondary cancer was observed in this study, but the incidence of a second malignancy in such groups is discussed. With the improvement of prognosis of childhood malignancies, such screenings are indispensable for better management.