Better treatment has doubled survival rate of childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC)
Friday, 26 October 2001

(Memphis, Tennessee, October 26, 2001) Better medical therapy has helped double the survival rate of survivors of childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) without additional risk they will develop a second cancer, a recent study shows.

The study, published by researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital led by Wing H. Leung, Ph.D., in the October 2001 issue of the medical journal Cancer, indicates how much treatment of this disease has improved over the past two decades. NHL is the third most common solid tumor in children. The current NHL survival rate is 80 percent, double the rate of 20 years ago.

"With our treatment strategies, we are able to treat the patients at the appropriate levels," Leung said. "For example, patients with high-risk disease will be treated more aggressively, versus patients who have lower-stage disease and are treated less aggressively. With that type of tailored approach, we are able to demonstrate that we improve the survival rate. And, since we are not over- or under- treating patients, we also keep the risks of secondary cancers down."

In 1978, St. Jude researchers introduced drugs and radiotherapy to the NHL therapy protocols that were designed for specific risk categories and subtypes of the disease. Since 1978, the vast majority of NHL patients have been treated with a St. Jude-developed protocol.

The study, conducted over a one-year period, showed that 3 percent of 500 patients who received treatment at St. Jude from 1970 to 1997 developed secondary cancers. The study does find that childhood NHL survivors are 10.8-times more likely to develop a new malignancy, when compared to the general population.

With a better medical regimen, more patients are living long enough to compare with a general population, Leung said.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tenn., was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas. The hospital is an internationally recognized biomedical research center dedicated to finding cures for catastrophic diseases of childhood. The hospital's work is supported through funds raised by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC). ALSAC covers all costs not covered by insurance for medical treatment rendered at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Families without insurance are never asked to pay.

For more information, or to contact St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC), see their website at: www.stjude.org