High efficacy of the German multicenter ALL (GMALL) protocol for treatment of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)--a single-institution study

Sixty-one consecutive patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (B-ALL excluded) were treated with the protocol described by Hoelzer et al. [15]. The complete remission (CR) rate was 85% (52/61 patients). Three patients died during induction therapy; six patients were refractory to treatment. The median duration of continuous complete remission (CCR), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival was 41.5, 41.4, and 40.8 months, respectively. At 5 years the probability of CCR was 49%, of DFS 43.5%, and of overall survival 41.6%. In the univariate analysis older age (35 years, p = 0.01), bcr-abl positivity (p = 0.007), and time to CR (4 weeks, p = 0.05) were significantly unfavorable prognostic factors. In the multivariate analysis only age (p = 0.006) and time to CR (p = 0.02) remained significant. Thus, our data confirm the high efficacy of this treatment regimen with regard to CR rate and remission duration.