Korean J Pediatr Hematol Oncol.  1999 Oct;6(2):293-297.

Prognostic Significance of Circulating Blasts after 7 Day of Multiagent Chemotherapy in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

• Park DY
• Yang CH
• Park SH
• Lyu CJ
• Kim KY

Abstract

PURPOSE: To assess the importance of early clearance of blast cells in peripheral blood and the predictability of outcome in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) through this method.
METHODS
We reviewed medical records of all childhood patients with ALL enrolled on Severance Hospital (January 1992 to December 1997) to determine the presence of blast cells in peripheral blood at diagnosis and after 1 week of intensive induction therapy.
RESULTS
Persistent circulating leukemic blasts were present at day 7 in 14 patients (11.4%) among 123 ALL patients. Compared with blast negative group, these patients had two adverse clinical and laboratory features (Hemoglobin level and L2 morphology), and a poorer 4-year event-free survival (69.8% vs. 82.7%, P<0.01).
CONCLUSION
We found that this simple and noninvasive method, which can replace bone marrow examination, may be very beneficial to predict the prognosis of ALL.

Keyword

Day 7 blast cell; Peripheral blood; Acute lymphoblastic leukemia

MeSH Terms

Bone Marrow Examination
Diagnosis
Disease-Free Survival
Drug Therapy*
Humans
Medical Records
Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma*
Prognosis