Two cases of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (A.L.L.) of T-cell type are reported. Clinically they were characterized by very high peripheral blood blast cell counts at presentation, the early development of meningeal leukaemia, and relative resistance to treatment with combination chemotherapy. Leukaemic cells from both patients lacked all the B-cell markers investigated, but 60-65% of their cel...

Hypophosphataemia is a metabolic disorder that is commonly encountered in critically ill patients. Phosphate has many roles in physiological functions, thus the depletion of serum phosphate could lead to impairment in multiple organ systems, which include the respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological and muscular systems and haematological and metabolic functions. Hypophosphataemia is defined a...

Twenty-four consecutive deaths from a total of 70 children receiving treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) have been reviewed. An attempt has been made to ascribe the cause of death to either infection, haemorrhage, the leukaemia itself, or a combination of these factors. No child was free of infection at death. Infection, with or without haemorrhage, was responsible for the deaths ...

A 43 year old male presented with a marked eosinophilia and associated systemic symptoms. A diagnosis of myelodysplasia was made on the basis of bone marrow morphology and karyotype. Over a 12 month period the disease transformed into acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, confirmed by flow cytometry, cytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry. Karyotyping was abnormal with 5q- and -7 which persisted from...

Two groups of four-year survivors with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) are compared: an 'old' series consisting of 83 patients diagnosed before 1968, and a 'new' series of 366 patients included in Medical Research Council trials (UKALL I-III) and diagnosed in 1970-4. Both series differed significantly from a group of ALL patients who survived less than four years in having lower total leuco...

Presenting features and natural history were assessed in 48 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia less than 2 years of age at diagnosis. Of these, 16 were less than 1 year (group 1) and 32 were between 1 and 2 years (group 2). Results were compared with a group of 348 children between the ages of 2 and 14 years (group 3) diagnosed over the same period. The children in group 1 presented wi...

A case of mixed acute leukaemia with T lymphoblastic, myeloblastic, and monocytic components is described. The use of immunological markers, ultrastructural morphology, cytochemistry, immunochemistry, and combined techniques, simultaneously detecting two markers in individual cells, made it possible to define the different blast cell populations.

We describe the first isolation of an NDM-1-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Italy. In May 2013, a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and history of prior hospitalisation in Belgrad, Serbia, underwent stem cell transplantation at a tertiary care hospital in Rome, Italy. After transplantion, sepsis by NDM-1-producing P. aeruginosa occurred, leading to septic shock and fatal outcome.

Thirty children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were studied and had a virus isolated. Only 50% produced a significant rise in complement fixing (CF) antibody titre compared to 100% of normal children. The failure to produce antibodies was unpredictable. CF antibodies are not a reliable guide to virus infections in children with ALL.

The incidence of fungal infections is increasing due to immunocompromised states. We report a case of fungaemia due to a rare fungus - Verticillium, in a 6 year old child diagnosed as a case of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia- L1 with high grade fever. The patient was treated with amphotericin B with a good clinical response.