Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) has been a treatment option for patients with serious diseases of the blood and haematopoietic organs in Norway since 1985. Such treatment is potentially curative for selected patients who have a relatively short predicted survival with other treatment modalities. This article summarises the experience and results from ASCT at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet.
The study included all of the 734 adult patients who had undergone allogeneic stem cell transplantation at the Department of Haematology, Rikshospitalet, later Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, from November 1985 to October 2012.
At the time of analysis, altogether 384 patients were alive, and the five and ten-year survival rates were 54% and 48% respectively. The median follow-up time was six years. A total of 339 patients (46%) had developed acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), and 250 (73%) of these had GvHD = grade II. Altogether 280 out of 602 patients who lived = 100 days after the transplantation (46.5%) developed chronic GvHD. The most frequent causes of death included recurrence of the initial disease in 116 patients (33.1 %), multi organ failure after transplantation in 88 patients (25.4%), infections in 54 patients (16%) and GvHD in 33 patients (9.4%).
ASCT is a treatment option with a curative potential for patients with serious haematological diseases when other forms of treatment provide few prospects for recovery. The total survival rate in our study is in accordance with international results for the same time period, and the indications have consistently been in line with what is accepted internationally.
Despite the incomparability in the reporting of leukemia and lymphoma incidence among populations and the relative rarity of these diseases, real differences in rates are discernible from available data. In general, the incidence of each of the leukemias and lymphomas is lower in Japan than in other Pacific rim populations whose rates are known. Particularly striking is the low incidence of CLL in Japan. Among Japanese in Hawaii, rates of some of these cancers (lymphosarcoma, CML) approach those of whites, whereas rates of other cancers (Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma, ALL, CLL, and AML) more closely resemble those of native Japanese. The number of Chinese living in countries served by population-based cancer reporting systems is too small for any firm conclusions to be made about leukemia and lymphoma incidence in this group. The incidence of these diseases in certain other nonwhite Pacific rim residents (i.e., Mexican Americans, blacks, and Maoris) is, by and large, similar to that of whites.
The association between childhood cancer and socioeconomic status is inconclusive. Family income has seldom been included in large population-based studies, and the specific contributions of it remain unknown.
A total of 712,674 children born between 1967 and 2009 in the Oslo region were included. Of these, 864 were diagnosed with leukemia or cancer in the central nervous system before the age of 15 years. The association between poverty and childhood leukemia or brain cancer was analyzed using logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models. Family income was stratified according to poverty lines. Parents' educational level and several perinatal variables were also examined.
Family poverty during the first 2 years of life was associated with lymphoid leukemia before the age of 15 years: odds ratio 1.72, 95% confidence interval 1.11-2.64. In the same age group we found a significant dose response, with a 21% increased risk of lymphoid leukemia with increasing poverty. The risk for intracranial and intraspinal embryonal tumors in the whole study period was lower for children in the middle family income category. For astrocytomas there was a more than 70% increased risk in the medium income category when analyzing the two first years of life. The observed increase was reduced when all years each child contributed to the study were included. The risk of cancer in the central nervous system overall was 20% higher in the medium income category compared to the high-income category.
Being born into a household of low family income the first 2 years of life was found to be a risk factor for development of lymphoid leukemia. For astrocytomas we observed an increased risk among children born into the medium income category throughout the first two years of life.
Patients with haematological malignancies are at increased risk of experiencing work-related problems. The aims of this study were to compare the risk of disability pension (DP) among patients diagnosed with eight subtypes of haematological malignancies to a reference cohort, and to determine if relative risks differ between these subtypes; to evaluate the influence of socioeconomic factors, demographic factors, and clinical factors on the risk of DP; and to investigate if these associations differ between the reference cohort and the patient cohort.
We combined data from national registers on Danish patients diagnosed with haematological malignancies between 2000 and 2007 and a reference cohort without a history of these diseases. A total of 3194 patients and 28 627 reference individuals were followed until DP, emigration, old age pension or anticipatory pension, death or 26 February 2012, whichever came first.
A total of 550 (17%) patients and 1511 (5%) reference individuals were granted DP. Age- and gender-adjusted relative risks differed significantly between the subgroups of haematological malignancies and ranged from 2.64 (95% CI 1.84-3.78) for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma to 12.53 (95% CI 10.57-14.85) for patients with multiple myeloma. In the patient cohort we found that gender, age, comorbidity, ethnicity, educational level, household income, history of long-term sick leave, and need of treatment with anxiolytics or antidepressants after diagnosis were associated with receiving DP. However, most of these associations were stronger in the reference cohort.
All eight subtypes of haematological malignancies were associated with an increased risk of DP compared to the reference cohort. The relative risks differed according to subtype, and patients with multiple myeloma had the highest risk of DP. Furthermore, most socioeconomic, demographic and clinical factors had a stronger impact on the risk of DP in the reference cohort than in the patient cohort.
The author analyzes the incidence of skin lymphomas and the manifestations of this condition in the patients treated in the dermatologic center of Rostov-on-Don in 1979-1987. There were 14 patients with primary reticulosis of the skin, 11 ones with mycosis fungoides, 1 with reticulosarcomatosis, 2 with lympholeukemia, and 16 with psoriasis en plaques. Each group of patients is characterized in detail. Comparative analysis of the morphologic forms of lymphomas of the skin has detected the differences in the course of each process. Analysis of the cases with skin lymphomas calls for further studies and improvement of the methods of treatment of this patient population.
