Although leukaemic infiltration of the pericardium is frequently observed at post-mortem, clinically evident cardiac tamponade is rare. Two cases of cardiac tamponade complicating leukaemia are presented. One patient had cardiac tamponade as the initial presentation of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and experienced complete resolution of the pericardial effusion within 6 days after chemotherapy ...

Sinonasal lymphoma is a non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) representing 1.5% of all lymphomas. It presents as an unremitting ulceration with progressive destruction of midline sinonasal and surrounding structures. Poor prognosis warrants early treatment although diagnosis is challenging and frequently delayed. It is usually primary in origin and to our knowledge the sinonasal region has never been repo...

We did a retrospective study of all acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) patients on United Kingdom ALL protocol who were admitted for febrile neutropenia. The aim of the study was to document the types of infections and aetiological agents associated with febrile neutropenia and to document the factors affecting mortality. Over the 8 1/2-year period from 1986 to June 1995, there were 77 episode...

Venous thrombosis is more frequent in patients treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) than other malignancies and has distinctive causes, clinical features and remedies. The reported incidence varies from 1% to 36%, depending on the chemotherapy protocol and whether the reported cases are symptomatic or detected on screening radiography. The risk is thought to arise from increased thro...

Studies on associations of various polymorphisms in xenobiotic metabolizing genes with different cancers including acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) are mixed and inconclusive. The current study analyzed the relationship between polymorphisms of phase I xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, cytochromes P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) and CYP2D6 and childhood ALL in Kashmir, India. We recruited 200 confirmed ALL...

Studies of risk factors for acute leukaemia are inconclusive. This case-control study was done in West Azerbaijan province, Islamic Republic of Iran, to determine the relationship between birth weight and acute leukaemia in children aged under 15 years. For every patient 2 age- and sex-matched controls were selected from hospital and community populations. Of 130 cases diagnosed over the period...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of pre-existing malnutrition on the treatment outcome of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. METHODS One hundred and sixty three patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) below the age of 14 years with L1 and L2 FAB morphology were included in this study. Treatment protocol used was FBM. Patients were classified according to Waterlow classifica...

Prognosis for children is good with long term survival of 70%-80%; adults do less well although event free survival of 59% at 3 years has been reported; the good prognosis is thought to be related to leukaemic cell sensitivity to a number of anti-leukaemic drugs and the propensity of cells to respond by apoptosis; it is unclear why a proportion of patients fail to achieve long term remission bu...

A number of studies have shown that the DNA-ploidy of mononucleated blood cells is a prognostic factor of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in childhood, patients with an hyperploid DNA index showing a significantly better response to chemotherapy than those with a euploid DNA index. The aim of the present study was to re-evaluate this question for a subset of patients in the German-Austrian-Swiss ...

AIMS To test the hypothesis that the abnormal fibrous stroma of bone marrow found after treatment of disseminated neuroblastoma represents traumatic scarring. METHODS Twenty six restaging bone marrow biopsy specimens from 14 children with disseminated neuroblastoma were compared with 37 from 37 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. They were assessed independently by two observers for ...