[Prophylactic central nervous system irradiation for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia]

Documentation on 324 children with leukemia who underwent cranial irradiation between 1972 and 1981 was collected from 15 participating hospitals in the Kansai Cancer therapy Group. Among 182 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, records on 90 children treated with prophylactic cranial irradiation (2,400 rads) plus intrathecal methotrexate in 12 hospitals were available for analysis. There was no significant difference in survival between the two prognostic groups based on age and initial WBC count at diagnosis, i.e., overall, relapse-free and CNS relapse-free 5-year survivals in the good and intermediate prognostic groups were 57% vs. 51%, 55%, vs. 49%, and 83% vs. 95%, respectively.