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CASE NOTES
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DrÌýMark PorterÌýgives listeners the low-down on what the medical profession does and doesn't know. Each week an expert in the studio tacklesÌýa particular topic and there are reports from around the UK on the health of the nation - and the NHS.
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LISTEN AGAIN Ìý30 min |
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"I spend half my week practising medicine and the other half writing and talking about it as a GP in Gloucestershire. Working on Case Notes has been a boon for both me and my patients. One of the principal aims of the programme is to keep our listeners up-to-date with the latest developments in healthcare, and to accomplish that I get to interview a wide range of specialists at the cutting edge of medicine. A rare privilege that ensures our listeners aren't the only ones to learn something new."
Mark Porter
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| Birmingham Children's Hospital |
 Full programme transcript >>
Leukaemia
For today’s programme Mark travels to Birmingham Children’s Hospital to find out about recent developments in the treatment of leukaemia.
Of the childhood forms, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common type and typically strikes early in life, while the less common acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) tends to present in older children and teenagers.
The last forty years have seen a radical improvement in the outlook for children with leukaemia. In the 50s and 60s fewer than 1 in 20 children were still aliveÌýfive years after diagnosis. Today that figure is closer to 17 out 20 for ALL, and 13 out 20 for AML. Leukaemia is curable.
Mark talks to Paediatric Haematologist Sarah Lawson about Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) – a new technique that allows doctors to spot children in whom the disease is more likely to come back, allowing them to tailor treatment accordingly.
If a child’s disease is more resistant, they can be offered extra chemotherapy to reduce the chance of recurrence. ÌýIf MRD shows that a child has responded well then it may be possible to cut back on the amount of treatment they need, reducing the likelihood of unwanted side effects and complications.
Although the most common of all childhood cancers it’s actually quite rare before the age of 16 with nine out of ten cases occurring in adults. Caroline Swinburne meets Hazel who was diagnosed with AML in her early fifties. |
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RELATED LINKS
´óÏó´«Ã½ Health: Leukaemia
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