Leukemia is happy to present a series of follow up articles on the treatment of children with ALL from 12 study groups worldwide, a major international undertaking. This is the result of a monumental effort by a group of dedicated clinicians under the leadership and co-ordination of Drs Ching Hon Pui, B Camitta and M Schrappe. Since the early 1960s, the majority of children treated for ALL have been enrolled in carefully controlled trials, establishing a paradigm for the development of treatment strategies for all types of cancer. As cure rates in childhood ALL approach 80%, pediatric oncologists recognise that even closer international collaboration will be needed to offer curative treatment to all children with this disease. One of the major problems with previous reports was the lack of adequate follow up; late recurrences and the development of late sequelae can alter the end results of even the most promising studies. Another problem is the lack of uniform criteria for reporting clinical trial results rendering it difficult to make meaningful comparisons across studies.
We in Leukemia have been keenly aware of the need to cast an inquisitive look at late clinical results and therefore applaud the efforts of this distinguished group of leukemia experts to overcome these shortcomings and to set another stellar example for the clinical investigators in all fields.
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