WEIGHT GAIN FOLLOWING PROLONGED REMISSION IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKAEMIA

There is a clinical impression that patients who have heen successfully treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia(ALL) become obese young adults. A retrospective analysis of the medical records of 130 patients in first prolonged continuous remission from ALL who had reached final height was performed. The body mass index (BMI) was assessed at commencement of treatment (V 1), immediately after treatment was completed (V2), and at final height (V3). All patients were treated with standard UK regimen consisting of combination cytotoxic chemotherapy and employing 1800 cGy or 2100-2500 cGy cranial irradiation for CNS prophylaxis. The mean BMI standard deviation score at V1, V2 and V3 for the groups were as follows.