50 years ago in the journal of pediatrics: Central nervous system complications of children with acute leukemia: An evaluation of treatment methods

摘要

Fifty years ago in The Journal, Evans et al reported an historical cohort study of 53 children symptomatic from intra-cranial leukemia, treated by either lumbar puncture alone, cranial irradiation, or intrathecal methotrexate. Today the results are not surprising; 98% of the irradiated patients became symptom-free for 2.8 months, and 88% of the methotrexate-treated patients were symptom-free 3.7 months (P = .07). Only 48% of the children undergoing simple lumbar puncture became asymptomatic and even then for only about 2 weeks. Whether this study's small sample size would have survived today's peer review process to merit publication is debatable.