Historical survival for patients 18-45 years with ALL is approximately 40 %.

However the event free survival for ALL patients 18-45 years has improved to 73% following implementation of the NOPHO ALL2008 protocol in July 2008.

The intensive protocol, dividing patients into 4 risk groups depending mainly on response to treatment, is now used for ALL patients 1-45 years in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania and Estonia.

The joint effort of paediatricians and adult haematologists has resulted in new knowledge especially for teenagers and adult patients and has revealed that:

1. Adult patients are more often ‘high risk’ patients compared with children

2. They tolerate intensive chemotherapy almost as well as children and are not subject to delays or gaps during treatment

3. When comparing patients within the 4 risk groups, adult survival is close to that of children and is markedly improved.

Source: EHA