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Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy :... Aug 2022Leukostasis refers to clinical symptoms caused by hyperleukocytosis seen in some haematological diseases such as leukaemia. Cytoreduction can be achieved by therapeutic...
INTRODUCTION
Leukostasis refers to clinical symptoms caused by hyperleukocytosis seen in some haematological diseases such as leukaemia. Cytoreduction can be achieved by therapeutic leukapheresis. The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyse the procedures performed in our Centre and to evaluate their efficacy and safety.
METHODS
This was a retrospective study of all the therapeutic leukapheresis procedures carried out in our Centre between January 1998 and December 2020. The sample collection was obtained through the review of the clinical files of the respective patients. Statistical analysis was performed using the software R v.4.0.1. A total of 54 therapeutic leukapheresis procedures were performed in 31 patients in our Centre.
RESULTS
After these procedures clinical improvement was observed in 16 patients and we verify that there was a significant difference in survival between the group that improved and the group that maintained the same clinical condition or worsened. The lack of immediate clinical improvement was a sign of a poor prognosis. Laboratory efficacy occurred in 16 patients who had a reduction in white blood cell count, with a 39.1% reduction after 24 h, and did not succeed in 15 patients, who had no reduction. However, in this case there is no significant difference in survival between the two groups. There was some complication in 53.9% of the procedures, with hypocalcaemia being the most frequent, which was observed in 22 procedures. Only 4 patients experienced serious side effects but these adverse reactions cannot be attributed to the procedures carried out. The overall survival rate 6 months after this treatment was 51.6%.
CONCLUSION
Despite the reduced number of patients, we conclude that therapeutic leukapheresis is a safe and effective option that may still have a therapeutic role in some cases.
PubMed: 36159955
DOI: 10.1159/000520933 -
Transfusion Oct 2020Up to 20% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) present with hyperleukocytosis, usually defined as a white blood cell (WBC) count greater than 100 × 10 /L.... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Up to 20% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) present with hyperleukocytosis, usually defined as a white blood cell (WBC) count greater than 100 × 10 /L. Given the high early mortality rate, emergent cytoreduction with either leukapheresis, hydroxyurea, or chemotherapy is indicated, but the optimal strategy is unknown.
STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS
For this systematic review and meta-analysis we searched MEDLINE and EMBASE via Ovid, Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Web of Science from inception through March 2020 for multiarm studies comparing early mortality rates of patients with AML treated with leukapheresis and those who were not. The risk ratio (RR) of early death for patients who received leukapheresis vs patients who did not was estimated using a sum of the log-ratio of individual study estimates weighted by sample size.
RESULTS
Among 13 two-arm, retrospective studies with 1743 patients (486 leukapheresis and 1257 nonleukapheresis patients), leukapheresis did not improve the primary outcome of early mortality compared to treatment strategies in which leukapheresis was not used (RR, 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69-1.13; P = .321) without statistically significant heterogeneity between studies (Cochran's Q, 18; P = .115; I , 33.4%). Patients presenting with clinical leukostasis tended to be more likely to undergo leukapheresis (odds ratio, 2.01; 95% CI, 0.99-4.08; P = .052).
CONCLUSION
As we did not find evidence of a short-term mortality benefit and considering the associated complications and logistic burden, our results argue against the routine use of leukapheresis for hyperleukocytosis among patients with AML.
Topics: Disease-Free Survival; Humans; Hydroxyurea; Leukapheresis; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Leukocytosis; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Survival Rate
PubMed: 32776542
DOI: 10.1111/trf.15994