The Prognosis of Adult Acute Leukaemias at Kenyatta National Hospital in the 1980s

Abstract

A retrospective survey was carried out of adult patients (aged 13 years and above) seen at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) betwecn January, 1980 and May, 1987 with various types of acute leukaemia. Records were available of 40 patients with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), 4 with Acute Iymmphoblastk leukaemia (ALL) and 4 with acute Lymphosarcoma Cell Leukaemia (ALSCL). Twenty four cases of AML (60%) were recorded dead after a median survival of L75 months and 16 (40%) were lost to follow-up after a median duration of 3 months. The median follow-up duration for all cases of AML was 2-7 months and this closely reflected the median survival for all the 40 cases. The survival duration was not influenced by sex, haematologic status diagnosis or age. Two of the four cases of ALL (50%) died after half month of survival from the time of diagnosis while two of the four cases of ALSCL (50%) were reported dead after varying durations of follow-up. It was concluded that the prognosis of acute leukaemias in adults is still extremely grave at Kenyatta National Hospital and a number of factors which are probably avoidable are responsible.