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Background. In Mexico and other developing countries, few reports of the survival of children with acute leukaemia exist.Objective. We aimed at comparing the disease-free survival of children with acute myeloid leukaemia who, in addition to being treated with the Latin American protocol of chemotherapy and an autologous transplant, either underwent early intensified chemotherapy or did not undergo such treatment.Procedure. This was a cohort study with a historical control group, forty patients, less than 16 years old. Group A (20 patients), diagnosed in the period 2005–2007, was treated with the Latin American protocol of chemotherapy with an autologous transplant plus early intensified chemotherapy: high doses of cytarabine and mitoxantrone. Group B (20 patients), diagnosed in the period 1999–2004, was treated as Group A, but without the early intensified chemotherapy.Results. Relapse-free survival for Group A was 90% whereas that for Group B it was 60% (P=0.041). Overall survival for Group A (18, 90%) was higher than that for Group B (60%). Complete remission continued for two years of follow-up.Conclusions. Relapse-free survival for paediatric patients treated with the Latin American protocol of chemotherapy with an autologous transplant plus early intensified chemotherapy was higher than that for those who did not receive early intensified chemotherapy.

Our aim in this paper is to describe the results of treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in Mexican children treated from 2006 to 2010 under the protocol from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) 00-01. The children were younger than 16 years of age and had a diagnosis of ALL denovo. The patients were classified as standard risk if they were 1–9.9 years old and had a leucocyte count 9/L, precursor B cell immunophenotype, no mediastinal mass, CSF free of blasts, and a good response to prednisone. The rest of the patients were defined as high risk. Of a total of 302 children, 51.7% were at high risk. The global survival rate was 63.9%, and the event-free survival rate was 52.3% after an average follow-up of 3.9 years. The percentages of patients who died were 7% on induction and 14.2% in complete remission; death was associated mainly with infection (21.5%). The relapse rate was 26.2%. The main factor associated with the occurrence of an event was a leucocyte count >100 × 109/L. The poor outcomes were associated with toxic death during induction, complete remission, and relapse. These factors remain the main obstacles to the success of this treatment in our population.