Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) following solid organ or hematologic malignancy (secondary ALL, s-ALL) is not well characterized. We analyzed the characteristics and outcome of patients with s-ALL and compared them with those of patients with de novo- ALL. Of 448 patients, 24 (5%) had previous neoplasia. Sixteen patients had received previous cytotoxic therapy (therapy-associated ALL, t-ALL), and eight had not (antecedent-malignancy ALL, am-ALL). Except for more advanced age in patients with s-ALL, no statistically significant differences were observed in WBC count, CNS involvement, immunophenotype or cytogenetics between the groups, nor in complete remission (t-ALL: 94%; am-ALL: 75%; de novo-ALL: 85%), 3-year remission duration (58%; 50%; 72%), overall survival (71%; 38%; 60%) or event-free survival (53%, 38%; 53%). Our study did not show poor clinical or cytogenetic features or inferior outcome in ALL patients with antecedent neoplastic disease, irrespective of the type of treatment received for the neoplasia.
Keywords: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; cytogenetics; prognosis; secondary.