According to the results of a new study, the survival rate for the most common type of pediatric cancer has risen to about 90% when the disease is properly diagnosed. The study, published in the March 12, 2012 online version of the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that the five year survival rate for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is now about 90%. That is an increase from an 84% five year survival rate in 1990. In the mid twentieth century ALL was considered incurable.

Approximately 2,800 -3,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with ALL each year. This form of cancer develops in the blood or bone marrow. If ALL is not appropriately diagnosed and treated, then it can quickly spread to other parts of the body.

The population studied included more than 21,000 children or more than half of the children in the United States with this particular form of leukemia. The increase in survival rates were found across both sexes, across all racial groups, for all ages except infants under the age of one, and for children around the country.

Researchers credit refined therapies for the improvement in survival rates among children over age one and continue to be concerned about finding the proper drug dosages for children younger than age one.

Our Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys are encouraged to hear of the 90% survival rate for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but our sincere condolences go out to the families and loved ones of the children in the 10% who did not survive.