PART II. SURVIVAL AFTER RELAPSE DURING UNMAINTAINED REMISSION AND AFTER SECOND CESSATION OF THERAPY

Nygaard, R. and Moe, P. J. (Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway). Outcome after cessation of therapy in childhood leukemia. A population-based Nordic study of 986 patients. II. Survival after relapse during unmaintained remission and after second cessation of therapy. Acta Paediatr Scand Suppl 354: 20, 1989.
This is the second part of a population-based investigation of 986 patients after discontinuation of therapy for childhood leukemia. Patients who had their first relapse after cessation of therapy ( n =206) were studied for subsequent outcome in terms of survival after relapse. The patients with ALL ( n =191) were also analyzed according to patient variables with possible influence on survival. Fifty-one (26.7%) of the patients with relapse of ALL electively stopped therapy once more, and for them subsequent survival in remission was evaluated.
The overall estimated proportion alive at five years after relapse in unmaintained remission was 0.37 and at ten years 0.28. There was no significant difference in survival after relapse for males vs. females, and this could be attributed to the fact that isolated testicular relapses carried a better chance of subsequent survival than did relapses in other sites. Age at relapse did not have any influence on survival. However, time from cessation of therapy to first relapse was of prognostic value: Patients who relapsed within 6 months had a signifcantly lower survival than did those with relapse after longer periods in unmaintained remission.
Five-year DFS was 0.57 after second cessation of therapy in patients with ALL. Our study confirms that there may be more than one chance of cure.