Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in patients over 59 years of age. Experience in a single center over a 10-year period.

We report data of 29 consecutive patients aged 60 years or older with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated at a single center between 1983 and 1992. Immunophenotyping was performed in 26 patients. According to the immunological classification used at the time of diagnosis, 14 had common-ALL, two had T-ALL, six had null-ALL, three had myeloid antigen-positive ALL with both lymphoid and myeloid markers, and one had B-ALL. One patient died before therapy could be instituted. Twenty-four patients received intensive induction chemotherapy. Nine of these patients died during the first 8 weeks, eight due to infections and one due to liver failure after asparaginase. In 14 of the remaining patients treated intensively, scheduled treatment was discontinued prematurely due to treatment-related toxicity and was replaced by milder chemotherapy. Four patients aged 75-77 years were treated with vincristine and prednisone. Only one patient who completed a whole study protocol survived more than 5 years. Twelve of the 28 patients treated with chemotherapy achieved complete remissions. The median survival was 5 months (range 1-103+). Median survival in patients with CR was 9.0 months. Actuarial survival is 3%. Our data demonstrate a poor prognosis in ALL patients over 59 years of age. The reasons were a high mortality during intensive induction therapy due to toxicity of treatment and a short remission duration.