Comparative analysis of therapy results in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia receiving ALL-MB-2002 and COALL-St.Petersburg-92 protocols

   In present article comparative efficacy analysis of two conceptually various acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) chemotherapy programs from 18. 04. 2002 till 01. 01. 2007 aimed at definition of optimum ALL chemotherapy strategy in children is presented. To obtain an ultimate correct analysis  patients data bases from Moscow and St.-Petersburg oncohematology departments have been united to the subsequent carrying out of meta-analysis. 292 primary patients are included in this analysis from ALL-MB-2002 group and 126 patients from COALL-St.Petersburg-92 group aged from 4 months to 18 years. Analysis of treatment results dynamics in ALL patients received COALL-St.Petersburg-92 protocol for 2 periods: from 01. 01. 1999 till 18. 04. 2002 and from 18. 04. 2002 till 01. 01. 2007 is also presented. Detailed comparison of two chemotherapy programs efficacy has not found any statistically significant differences concerning such factors, as complete remission rate, early death rate and relapse rate, and as number of children who are in continuous complete remission. Event-free survival (EFS) in both groups was 78 ± 3 and 78 ± 4 %, respectively (р = 0.85). The overall survival (OS) was 80 ± 5 % for patients treated according to ALL-MB-2002 protocol, and 83 ± 4 % for patients receiving COALL-St.Petersburg-92 protocol (р = 0.65). Though comparison of ALL-MB-2002 and COALL-St.Petersburg-92 protocols has shown, that efficacy of both chemotherapy regimens is identical, however such advantages of ALL-MB-2002 protocol as reduced toxicity and greater simplicity in implementation could be crucial for the choice of optimal chemotherapy strategy for childhood ALL in Russia.