Abstract

The rising incidence of leukaemia and the availability of new chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of the disease call for a review of the relative usefulness of different measures. Neither irradiation nor any drug has more than a palliative effect in any form of leukaemia, but appropriate treatment can often relieve symptoms and induce remissions with some prolongation of life. And when a patient no longer responds to one treatment, another may for a time prove effective.