Infectious complications in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment: A comparison of ALL-IC BFM 2009 vs. modified St. Jude total XV in a single-center retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Infectious complications remain the major cause of treatment-related morbidity and mortality in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This study retrospectively compared the patterns of infection in children treated with either the modified St. Jude Total XV protocol (n = 181) or the ALL-IC BFM 2009 protocol (n = 61) at a single center. Although the overall number of infection episodes was similar between the two groups, their distributions across treatment phases differed markedly. The ALL-IC BFM 2009 protocol was associated with a significantly greater incidence of infections during the induction phase, particularly in high-risk patients, who often presented with skin and gastrointestinal tract infections. In contrast, modified St. Jude Total XV protocol presented a greater infection risk during the re-induction phase. Gram-positive bacteria, especially Staphylococcus epidermidis, were the most frequently isolated pathogens in both cohorts, although the BFM group exhibited a higher proportion of gram-negative infections. The rates of documented viral infections in BFM cohort and modified St. Jude Total XV cohort were 21.4 % vs 9.2 %, respectively. Invasive fungal infection rate was found as 6.7 % in the modified St. Jude group and 4.0 % in the BFM group is in line with the literature. Multivariate analysis confirmed that severe neutropenia and the presence of a central venous catheter were strong independent predictors of infection frequency. These findings underscore protocol-specific differences in infectious risk profiles and emphasize the importance of tailored supportive care strategies in the management of pediatric ALL.