ecancermedicalscience

Research

Treatment outcome in adolescent and young adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) on BFM-95 protocol: experience of a tertiary care Institute from North India

7 Aug 2025
Alpika Shukla, Shailendra Prasad Verma, Anil Kumar Tripathi, Swasti Sinha

Background: BFM-95 protocol is among the common regimens used to treat adolescent and young adult (AYA) acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Five-year survival in AYA patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is inferior when compared to children.

Objective: To study treatment outcomes in adolescent and young adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on BFM 95 protocol.

Material and Methods: We retrospectively analysed the available data of 75 patients diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in the AYA age group who received treatment as per BFM-95 protocol from 2016 to 2020 in the clinical hematology department in a tertiary health care centre.

Results: Among 75 patients, 56 were male and 19 were female. High-risk patients were 15 (20%), 3 due to poor prednisolone response and 12 due to high-risk cytogenetics. Most of the patients were CNS-1 and three patients were of CNS-3. Eight (10.6%) patients did not complete induction treatment. The median duration of induction phase A was 40 days (range 35–45 days). The most common complication during induction phase A treatment was febrile neutropenia which was seen in 21 patients (28%), followed by transaminitis in 12 patients (21.1%). The median duration of follow-up was 2 years (range 8 months–5 years). Five (6%) patients’ bone marrow were not in remission after induction-A. Relapse occurred in 23 patients (30.6%), with the highest incidence observed during the maintenance phase of treatment. Thirty-three (44%) patients completed maintenance and were still on follow-up. Twenty-three (30.7%) patients relapsed while six patients were lost to follow-up during maintenance. At a median follow-up of 2 years, disease-free survival was (44%).

Conclusion: This study on AYA patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia/lymphoma using a pediatric protocol in a resource-limited setting observed suboptimal survival rates, which may be attributed to the retrospective design, significant data gaps and a small patient cohort with limited follow-up.

Related Articles

Simone P S Lima, Rafael Fernandes-Ferreira, Beatriz J Brait, Franciana L Aguiar, Marcela A S Pinhel, Abner dos Santos Abreu, Renato F Silva, Rita C M A Silva, Doroteia R S Souza
Beatrice P Mushi, Summaiya Haddadi, Alita Mrema, Jerry Ndumbalo, Nanzoke Mvungi, Msiba Selekwa, Julius Mwaiselage, Larry Akoko, Yona Ringo, Rohan Luhar, Rebecca DeBoer, Katherine Van Loon, Elia Mmbaga, Geoffrey C Buckle
Ally H Mwanga, Erick M Mbuguje, Jeanine Justiniano, Balowa Musa, Nashivai Kivuyo, Daniel W Kitua, Eva Uiso, Andrew Swallow, Edith Kimambo, Azza Naif, Deogratius B Mwanakulya, Swaleh Pazi, Advera Ngaiza, Seif Wibonela, Behnam Shaygi, Cameron E Gaskill
Eduardo Cazap, Benjamin O Anderson, Giuseppe Curigliano, Sandeep Sehdev, Fatima Cardoso, Ana Rita Gonzalez, Emad Shash, Cheng-Har Yip, André Mattar, Yanin Chavarri-Guerra, Miriam Mutebi, Yongmei Yin, João Victor Rocha, Ilaria Lucibello, Namita Srivastava