Hidetaka Niitsu

Risk Factors for Hepatosplenic Abscesses in Patients With Acute Leukemia Receiving Empiric Azole Treatment

The authors retrospectively evaluated 63 febrile neutropenic episodes in 33 consecutive patients with leukemia who received empiric azole treatment for refractory or relapsing fever that occurred despite broad-spectrum antibiotics. In 8 patients (24%), hepatosplenic abscesses (HSA) developed. To identify the risk factors for the development of HSA, the authors compared various characteristics of febrile episodes in those with and without HSA. The risk factors included relapsed status of leukemia (P = 0.04) and Candida colonization of surveillance cultures from the throat (P = 0.03) and stool (P = 0.03). However, the duration of neutropenia, gastrointestinal symptoms, types of chemotherapy, and leukemia subtypes were not correlated with the development of HSA. Based on these results, the authors identified the high risk group for the development for HSA as patients with relapsed leukemia with fungal colonization of gastrointestinal tract during neutropenia despite empiric antifungal treatment with azoles.

Ph+ Acute Myelogenous Leukemia with t(7;11)(p15;p15) and Clonal Evolution in Relapse after Bone Marrow Transplantation

A 20-year-old female with Ph+ acute myelogenous leukemia (M2) associated with t(7;11)(p15;p15) is reported. Bone marrow aspirates were hypercellular with leukemic cells including Auer rods. Chromosome analysis showed t(7;11) and the Ph chromosome. After complete remission, normal karyotype was restored. Normal male karyotypic cells replaced the bone marrow following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from her brother. On day 358, cytogenetic study at relapse revealed 14q+ as an additional change and clearly showed that the abnormal clone was derived from the patient, because metaphases with XX were all of abnormal karyotype and those with XY were normal.