Long-term survivors with adult acute leukemia in complete remission: complications and return to work

For addressing, and eventually being able to predict and prevent, both disease-related complications and changes in social status in long-term acute leukemia survivors, the follow-up is the most important factor after treatment. To this end, we assessed the complications following the attainment of complete remission in adult acute leukemia patients and the changes in social status of patients surviving more than 5 years after disease onset. In our study population of 42 survivors, 24 (57.1%) suffered from various combinations of 18 types of identified complications including posttransfusion hepatitis, diabetes mellitus, and idiopathic osteonecrosis. Regarding fertility, 9 live births were recorded in this cohort, from 2 female patients and the partner of a male patient. Of these 42 long-term survivors, at the time of this report 48.5% were working full- or part-time, 9.0% were unemployed, 30.3% were homemakers, and 12.2% were retired.