elderly acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Dear Dr.
        Could you please give me the median survival for elderly,over 60 acute lymphoblastic leukemia today?I also need to know what survival in this group was in early 80's.I am having trouble finding data dating back then even though I have spent a lot of time attempting to get this information.Iwould appreciate any help you could give.
                                                                                        Thanks in advance,
                                                                                    
                                                                                        

[Hien K Duong, MD]

Ken59,

The question for median survival for any cancer is not as straightforward to answer as one would expect.  This is because many factors contribute to any “median” number – including various patient characteristics, disease characteristics, and type of treatment received.

For adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the 3-year overall survival is approximately 30-40%.  For patients who are over the age of 60, the 3-year overall survival is <15% and median survival in this age group is less than 7 months.   (Larson R, Management of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in older patients, Semin Hematol. 2006 Apr;43(2):126-33).

Another helpful resource is the National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results(SEER) site:  http://seer.cancer.gov.  Here, you can see statistics on many different types of cancers.

Thank you for your question.