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Acute leukemia in children and adults is still a serious disease, but progress made during the past decade has been encouraging. Physicians-in-training, nonspecialist practitioners, and paramedical personnel should be aware of advances in the field to make the best therapy available to the infrequently encountered patient. Thus, it is extremely important to transmit updated guidelines of leukemia diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. In a paperback volume, introduced in a new series entitled Monographs in Clinical Hematology, Dr Thomas Necheles of Tufts University has attempted to provide "fellows, house officers, nurse practitioners, other health personnel, and family physicians" with this important information. Unfortunately, childhood and adult acute leukemia is rarely, if ever, followed up by the same health care personnel. Any book attempting to cover both fields loses something in the effort. The specific and general hematologic, nutritional, metabolic, psychosocial, and developmental problems affecting the 4-year-old child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are