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What Are The Possibilities Of Leukaemia Relapse Post Recovery?

Posted on Fri, 27 Nov 2015

Question: Dear sir, my friend is a leukemia patient who suffered ALL in 2006 and had undergone treatment in tata memorial hospital in XXXXXXX she was reported cure and is under no medication since 2009. she was treated with chemo therapy.i just want to know whether she is fully cured or not? what are the possibilities of of relapse of ALL? what are the possibilites of a treatment related second cancers like myeloid leukemia, sarcoma, etc? can normal life is possible in her case? can we expect a complete remission for her?

Answered by Dr. Shailja Puri (43 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Prognosis of ALL depends on type of ALL, genetic abnormality & MRD.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query on HealthcareMagic.
ALL is leukemia of children and has good prognosis in children.
ALL in adults fares well but there are certain prognostic factors which decide the probable course of disease.
First of all it is important to know whether the ALL is B cell-ALL or T cell-ALL.
B cell-ALL has better prognosis than T cell - ALL.
Presence or absence of associated genetic abnormalities also needs to be known.
Some genetic abnormalities have better prognosis than others.
Next minimal residual disease (MRD) is another important prognostic factor.
MRD is presence of minimum no of cancerous cells during remission.
Since, you are taking treatment from Tata memorial hospital, facilities for MRD are available and your hemato=oncologist must have got it done or advised you for the same.
Presence of MRD is poor prognostic factor.
The overall prognosis of ALL is fairly good and good life expectancy can be expected.
Your friend can get married and lead a normal life.
The factors that can compromise the quality of life are side effects of chemotherapy, relapse, frequency of relapse and site of relapse.
The frequency of relapse and site of relapse depends on above mentioned factors- type of ALL, associated genetic abnormality and MRD.
Please discuss these factors for more information.

Thanks and take care
Dr Shailja Puri

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj

Follow up: Dr. Shailja Puri (34 hours later)

what are the possibilities of relapse after 9 years of treatment as becoz 95% of all relapse within 5 years of treatment.she has been taking no medicine from 2009. as becoz it is an emotional issue it is very hard to discuss all this factors with her. what could be the maximum life expetency for a all patient.and if relapse does happen then can it be cured with chemo as pf earlier

Answered by Dr. Shailja Puri (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
ALL can be cured.A disease free period of 6 years is equivalent to cure

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome again,
A remission for past six years is a good sign.
ALL can be cured and a disease free period of six years is equivalent to cure of disease.
A normal life expectancy can be expected.
If any relapse, god forbid occurs in future, it can be treated with chemotherapy like before.
With a good response to chemotherapy and a disease free period of six years, a normal disease free period with normal life expectancy can be expected.

Thanks and take care
Dr Shailja Puri

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad