Survival in acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia following breast cancer

Acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia (ANLL) occurs with increased frequency in women with previously diagnosed breast cancer. Adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy are related to this increase. We studied the interrelationships among age at breast cancer diagnosis, interval to ANLL diagnosis, and survival in 54 women of whom 11 were from Kansas and 43 were from two other published series. Median age at breast cancer diagnosis was 50.5 years, median interval to ANLL diagnosis was 4.8 years, and median survival after ANLL diagnosis was 2.2 months. Increasing age was associated with a decrease of the interval to ANLL diagnosis just short of statistical significance (P = 0.0591). There was no association of survival with either age or the interval to ANLL diagnosis. With an increase in the use of adjuvant therapy in breast cancer there is a need to identify women at greatest risk of subsequently developing ANLL, at present not possible.