1/151. The preleukemic syndrome: clinical and laboratory features, natural course, and management. The clinical and laboratory features of the stages in the evolution of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia are reviewed. Based on a retrospective analysis of 34 patients who died with an acute myelomonoblastic leukemia, the "preleukemic syndrome" has been shown to display a clinical picture sufficiently specific to permit its recognition prospectively (i.e., before the development of overt leukemia). The results to date of a variety of prospective studies are reviewed, and the approach(es) to the management of these cases is considered. ( info) |
2/151. Sideroblastic anaemia and leukaemia in multiple myeloma. Two patients with IgA myeloma and one patient with kappa light chain disease developed sideroblastic anaemia from two to four years after the initial diagnosis. All had previously received radiotherapy and chemotherapy (melphalan and prednisone). In two patients the myeloma was quiescent when the sideroblastic change occurred. Leukaemia occurred in two patients two and seven months respectively after the diagnosis of sideroblastic anaemia was made. In one of them, the myeloma became active again at the same time. The development of sideroblastic anaemia may be a pre-leukaemic event and may be recognised by the appearance of a dimorphic blood film. ( info) |
3/151. Acute myeloblastic leukemia after immunodepressive therapy for primary nonmalignant disease. Three patients treated with immunodepressive chemotherapy over a period of 43, 60, 38 months respectively, for primary nonmalignant disease, developed AML after cessation of chemotherapy. During the months preceding the AML outbreak, there were hematologic changes with seemed to reveal a preleukemic state. Our 3 patients, and 8 previously published cases, making a total of 11 patients, developed AML after chemical immunodepression for reasons which were neither hematologic nor neoplastic. ( info) |
4/151. Proliferative behavior of hemopoietic cells in preleukemia and overt leukemia observed in one patient. Hemopoietic cell proliferation was studied in a patient suffering from preleukemia characterized by peripheral pancytopenia and hypercellular bone marrow with ineffective erythropoiesis. Two years later when overt acute myelogenous leukemia had developed the study was repeated. The kinetics of proliferation were investigated by a new method which allows evaluation of the rate and time of dna synthesis in individual morphologically defined cells. erythropoiesis was found ineffective to the same degree in both stages of disease. The rate of erythroid cell proliferation, however, was reduced in overt leukemia only. The myeloid system showed a grossly reduced production rate of myeloblasts in preleukemia whilst the same parameter was strongly increased in leukemia. This high production rate of myeloblasts in overt leukemia was interpreted as indication of a far-reaching self-maintenance of the myeloblast pool in this stage of disease. The proliferative activity of the individual myeloblasts was reduced already in preleukemia, and even more so in leukemia. In order to explain the amplification of the myeloblast pool with the onset of overt leukemia a change in the mode of myeloblast divisions is assumed. For this a transition from steady state to some degree of exponential growth gives the most plausible explanation. ( info) |
5/151. Three cases of typical aplastic anaemia associated with a philadelphia chromosome. We report three cases of typical aplastic anaemia (AA) associated with a philadelphia chromosome. This translocation was detected at the time of diagnosis of AA (one patient) and when overt leukaemia was diagnosed (two patients: one chronic myeloid leukaemia and one acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) after AA therapy and recovery of blood counts. We discuss the literature arguments about considering some cases of AA as preleukaemic disorders and suggest that our cases illustrate the association of AA with a clonal malignant disorder. We conclude that cytogenetic analysis is necessary at diagnosis of AA or after recovery of blood counts. ( info) |
6/151. Transient pancytopenia preceding acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (pre-ALL) precipitated by parvovirus B19. A preleukaemic phase, typified by pancytopenia and bone marrow (BM) hypoplasia, is an uncommon but well-documented prelude to acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (pre-ALL) in children. parvovirus B19 (B19) exhibits a marked tropism to human BM and replicates only in erythroid progenitor cells acting as a confounding, but treatable agent in immunocompromised patients. We present the first case of B19-associated pre-ALL characterized by severe and recurring transient pancytopenia in a child who developed ALL 5 months later. The advent of B19-specific IgG at the time of infection and the subsequent disappearance 1.5 years later has not previously been described. In this patient the observed cytopenias were probably the result of B19 acting in concert with the failing BM and B19 is possibly one of several factors capable of triggering the onset of pre-ALL. ( info) |
7/151. Systemic capillary leak syndrome preceding plasma cell leukaemia. We report a patient with plasma cell leukaemia with systemic capillary leak syndrome, a rare disorder often associated with monoclonal gammopathy. In this patient, the manifestation of capillary leak syndrome antedated the diagnosis of plasma cell leukaemia by 5-6 months. During that time, he was repeatedly admitted to the hospital with weight gain, congestive cardiac failure, cough and anasarca in the presence of normal renal function, liver function and normal echocardiography. On presentation, a serum protein electrophoresis showed monoclonal IgG; the blood smear showed 60% plasma cells with a total count of 4.4 x 10(9)/l. A bone marrow aspirate showed replacement of the normal marrow by sheets of immature plasma cells. His systemic capillary leak syndrome initially responded to decongestive therapy with terbutaline and aminophylline but later on he became refractory to them and responded to vincristine, doxorubicin and dexamethasone (VAD) combination therapy only transiently. Danocrine and pentoxifylline, added during VAD chemotherapy, did not produce a durable response in capillary leak syndrome, which finally responded to autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). After PBSCT, he remained free of capillary leak for 10 months without terbutaline, pentoxifylline corticosteroids, aminophylline or danocrine. His disease relapsed without recurrence of the capillary leak. He died 15 months after PBSCT and 20 months after the diagnosis of plasma cell leukaemia. ( info) |
8/151. Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome terminating in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (IHES) is a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by multisystem dysfunction and persistent, extreme eosinophilia of unknown cause. We describe a 9-1/2-year-old boy whose course included several unusual clinical features and terminated 2 years after diagnosis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Serial studies suggest that leukemia was not present earlier in his course. We speculate that this child may have had an evolving lymphoproliferative syndrome with a terminal blast crisis to which the eosinophilia was a nonmalignant leukemoid reaction. ( info) |
9/151. pancytopenia presenting with monosomy 7 which disappeared after immunosuppressive therapy. monosomy 7 syndrome in infant is considered as pre-leukemic condition of poor prognosis. However, it seems controversial recently, because some cases of monosomy 7 syndrome showed spontaneous remission. We report 2-year-old girl with severe pancytopenia, who presented with monosomy 7. Morphologically, there was little dysplasia in the trilineage hematopoiesis. monosomy 7 clone of CD34 positive cells, bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC), and peripheral nuclear cells was 4.0, 40, and 3.8%, respectively. Immunosuppressive therapy was effective along with the disappearance of monosomy 7 clone. WT1 mRNA expression was not increased in monosomy 7 clone. Pathogenesis of monosomy 7 and its relation to aplastic anemia is discussed. ( info) |
10/151. trisomy 4 and ring chromosome in a patient with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. We describe a patient with acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML) in whom cytogenetic analysis revealed trisomy 4 associated with a ring chromosome. In addition, in a cytogenetically unrelated clone, trisomy 8 and 5q- abnormalities were detectable. The possibility of a subclinical myelodysplastic syndrome preceding the onset of AML is discussed on the basis of the morphological and cytogenetic findings. ( info) |