Who can enter
- Children and adolescents with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- Age: 0 up to and including 18 years
Goal
The goal of this study is to investigate whether the treatment of children and adolescents with CML can be improved by:
- An improved risk-group classification for treatment
- The addition of extra treatment options for specific groups
Background
Treatment of AML consists of intensive chemotherapy and in some cases also stem cell transplantation. To determine the exact treatment, patients are divided in different treatment groups, the so called ‘risk groups’. We determine the risk group by, among others, looking at the characteristics of AML cells at diagnosis and how the disease responds at the start of treatment.
The treatment protocol that was used until now for children and adolescents with AML showed good results: 70-80% of the children survives the disease with this treatment. When the disease fails to respond to the treatment, or comes back later, the prognosis is worse. Therefore, it is important to prevent the AML from not responding or from coming back.
In this new study, the treatment given is in general similar to what we did before. Based on results from previous studies, we are now able to better identify the characteristics that determine the risk group for treatment. In addition, we want to add extra treatment options for specific groups to the standard treatment. We hope to improve the treatment in this way.
This scientific study is initiated by the NOPHO-DB-SHIP consortium (a collaboration of 14 different countries in- and outside Europe) and is being performed in several hospitals. In the Netherlands, the study is performed in the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology.