The purpose of this study is to determine whether a novel standard of care protocol, washing red cell and platelet transfusions for younger patients with acute leukemia, has yielded improved clinical outcomes at Strong Memorial Hospital (Rochester, New York, USA). This standard of care was implemented based upon an earlier randomized trial (BMC Blood Disorders. 2004 Dec 10;4(1):6) The comparator will be historical controls from the medical literature.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a novel standard of care protocol, washing red cell and platelet transfusions for younger patients with acute leukemia, has yielded improved clinical outcomes at Strong Memorial Hospital (Rochester, New York, USA). This standard of care was implemented based upon an earlier randomized trial (BMC Blood Disorders. 2004 Dec 10;4(1):6) The comparator will be historical controls from the medical literature. Key outcomes will be treatment related mortality (deaths at 30, 60 and 100 days) and three year survival.

Inclusion Criteria:

• previously untreated patients with a diagnosis of acute leukemia between the ages of 0 and 50 (AML) and 18 and 50 (ALL)

Exclusion Criteria:

• all other patients

The study population is comprised of 98 men and women who were both diagnosed and treated for Acute Myeloid Leukemia or Acute Lymphoid Leukemia at Strong Memorial Hospital, a tertiary medical center located in Rochester, NY, USA. All of these patients received washed red cell and platelet transfusions as part of the hospital's standard protocol for patients with acute leukemia.

Serious, and Other (Not Including Serious) Adverse Events were not monitored/assessed

This is a cohort study and thus has limits as to confounding and bias. However, it reproduces the results of a previous single center randomized trial.