The latest medical research on Haematology

Leukemia-associated structural chromosomal abnormalities (SCA) can be identified either by karyotyping or interphase-fluorescence in-situ hybridization (i-FISH) assays. Both karyotyping and i-FISH on mononuclear cell suspension are time, resource, and manpower-consuming assays. In this study, we have compared the results of specific leukemia-associated SCAs identified by i-FISH on air-dried bone marrow (BM)/peripheral blood (PB) smears and BM karyotyping. The study was conducted among pediatric patients (age ≤ 18 years) diagnosed with acute leukemias between January 2018 to December 2022. The results of i-FISH on air-dried BM/PB smears and BM-karyotyping for our SCA of interest (BCR::ABL1, ETV6::RUNX1, TCF3::PBX1, KMT2A rearrangement, RUNX1::RUNX1T1, CBFB::MYH11, and PML::RARA) were entered in a contingency table and the agreement of results was calculated. The strength of agreement was assessed by Cramer's V test. Among 270 patients, SCA of interest was identified among 26% and 17% of patients by i-FISH on air-dried smears and karyotyping, respectively. Excluding 53 patients with metaphase failure, the remaining 217 patients had 92% agreement (Cramer's V of 0.931 with p < 0.000) between the results for specific SCAs identified by both techniques. On excluding samples with cryptic cytogenetic aberrancies, there was 99% agreement (Cramer's V of 0.953 with p < 0.000) for gross SCA identified by both techniques. In addition, i-FISH on air-dried smears identified SCA in 30% of patients with metaphase failure. I-FISH on air-dried PB/BMA smears is a less-labor and  resource-consuming assay. It can be considered an efficient alternative to conventional karyotyping for  identifying specific SCA of interest in under-resourced laboratories.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12288-023-01699-2.

Early-stage Hodgkin's lymphoma (ESHL) is highly curable, usually with a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. Real-world data may show differences in survival and prognostic factors when compared to clinical trials. There is limited published literature on ESHL from India. The data on the baseline characters, treatment, and outcomes of patients with ESHL (stage IA, IB, and IIA) were obtained from five institutions' medical records and entered in a common database. Event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan Meier method, and cox-regression analysis was used to identify prognostic factors. There were 258 patients [median age was 37 (18-75) years; [males:160 (62%); stage I: 41%; B symptoms: 17 (6%); bulky disease:19 (15%)] treated between 2000 and 2020 who were evaluable. The common chemotherapies used were ABVD [N = 180 (70%)], COPP-ABVD hybrid [N = 52 (21%)], and COPP [N = 14 (5%)]. Median number of cycles were 4 (2-8) and 93 (47%) received radiation at end of treatment. After a median follow-up of 60 months, the 5 years EFS was 87% and OS was 92%. On multivariate analysis, the following factors adversely affected the EFS: Male gender [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.23, P = 0.02] and Hemoglobin < 10.5g/dL [hazard ration (HR) = 2.20, P = 0.02], and the following adversely affected the OS: Hemoglobin < 10.5g/dL [hazard ratio (HR) = 4.05, P = 0.001], Male gender [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.59, P = 0.004], Stage 2 [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.65, P = 0.002] and ECOG PS (2-3) [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.35, P = 0.01]. Using the hemoglobin, stage and gender a 3-item prognostic score could identify patients with very good outcomes (score 0; 5 years OS:100%) and poor outcomes (score 3; 5 years OS; 49%). This is one of the first multi-center real-world data exclusively focusing on ESHL from India. Though the survival of the entire population was good, there are subsets of patients who have poor outcomes, which may be identified using simple parameters. These parameters need validation in a larger dataset.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12288-023-01692-9.

No consensus has been made on the use of PEG-modification recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (PEG-rhG-CSF) in patients receiving autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). To evaluate the efficacy and safety of PEG-rhG-CSF in provision of neutrophil support for lymphoma patients receiving autologous PBSCT. This retrospective study included lymphoma patients receiving either PEG-rhG-CSF or rhG-CSF after autologous PBSCT from 2018 to 2021 in two clinics. Hematologic recovery time, incidence of infectious complications and toxicity were compared between these two rhG-CSFs and among different initiation time of PEG-rhG-CSF. Of the 139 subjects included, 93 received PEG-rhG-CSF and 46 received rhG-CSF after transplantation. Compared with rhG-CSF, PEG-rhG-CSF marginally but significantly accelerated the neutrophil engraftment by 1 day (10 vs. 9 days, respectively) with no increasing on the risk of infectious complication and toxicity. In the PEG-rhG-CSF group, 50 patients received the growth factor on day 1, 19 received on day 3 and 24 received on day 5. The neutrophil engraftment was significantly shorter in day 1 and day 3 subgroup (9, 9, and 10 days, respectively), with a lower incidence of febrile neutropenia (82%, 100%, 100%) and documented infections (76%, 100%, 100%) in day 1 subgroup. PEG-rhG-CSF might be an alternative to rhG-CSF for lymphoma patients received autologous PBSCT. Administrating PEG-rhG-CSF on day 1 can achieve both faster hematologic recovery and lower infectious complications.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12288-023-01704-8.