Leukaemia in childhood

Abstract

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer and is curable in 80% of children. This is due to the remarkable success in the last 50 years with treatment with the development of chemotherapeutic agents, improved supportive care and collaborative efforts of paediatric oncologists. Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) are rare diseases in childhood, but cure rate has improved for both. Gleevec is the exciting new treatment for CML, which inhibits bcr/abl protein with resulting inhibition of the malignant clone.