Leukaemia: Treatment advances

ADVANCES in the treatment of childhood leukaemia over the past 30 years have increased the cure rate to 85%, an international cancer conference in Dublin heard yesterday.

Consultant paediatric haematologist Professor Owen Smith said the improvement in treatment outcome was perhaps the single greatest achievement in all cancer therapy over the past 50 years.

Prof Smith, of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, said the “impressive improvement” was achieved by the fine-tuning and combining of drugs already in existence.