An update on leukaemia

As a group, the leukaemias represent the most common malignant conditions of childhood. The treatment of childhood leukaemia, and in particular the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), has shown tremendous improvement in outcome in the last 40 years. Much of the success is due to the improvements in leukaemia therapy demonstrated in improved disease-free survival and reduced relapse rates in clinical trials but improvements in supportive care over the years have also had a very significant contribution. Over the last 30 years we have also seen reduced treatment related mortality due to better management of complications and better detection and treatment of infections. The emphasis of treatment as well as being cure is now focussing on targeting therapy to reduce the treatment burden in good risk disease and identify and intensify treatment for those with poor risk disease. The development of molecularly targeted therapies has changed the therapeutic landscape and this last decade has seen many improvements in outcome associated with these new agents.This review will give a brief overview of current treatment protocols used in childhood leukaemia, focussing specifically on the latest improvements and strategies in treating these conditions.