Early Discharge of Adolescent and Young Adult Patients During Induction Chemotherapy for Newly Diagnosed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Is It Safe?

J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2023 Apr;12(2):271-274. doi: 10.1089/jayao.2022.0028. Epub 2022 Jul 18.

Abstract

There is a lack of consensus for safely discharging adolescent and young adults (AYA) with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. From 2017 to 2019 we evaluated predefined early discharge criteria for 41 AYA patients during induction chemotherapy. Only 17% (7/41) of patients met criteria for early discharge. Two (29%) patients who were discharged early were readmitted, but not to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). This outcome was compared to a historic cohort at our institution of 73 patients who were discharged without predefined discharge criteria. Twenty-seven (37%, p = 0.7) patients were readmitted, but 13 (48%) were readmitted to the PICU (p = 0.004).

Keywords: ALL; discharge criteria; readmission.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Humans
  • Induction Chemotherapy
  • Patient Discharge*
  • Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* / drug therapy
  • Young Adult