Outcome of hepatitis in children with acute leukemia.

The cases of 31 children with acute leukemia and concurrent hepatitis were evaluated for the outcome of their hepatitis. Thirteen of these children had hepatitis B and 18 children had a non-B hepatitis. Chronic hepatitis developed in more than half of the children with acute hepatitis, with the majority of cases being of the chronic, active type. A majority of these children had received at least one blood transfusion in the preceding year. No relationship was seen between the development of chronicity of the liver disease and the management of the acute hepatitis or the state of underlying disease. With the potential for a cure for acute leukemia increasing, a method of reducing the sequelae of hepatitis in children with leukemia is needed.