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Muscle side effects have not been frequently assessed in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients. Our objective was to determine the early and late muscle side effects during childhood ALL treatment. To this end, we examined the early muscle side effects in 15 newly diagnosed "therapy patients" (group I), and the late side effects in 18 ALL survivors "off therapy patients" (group II). Muscle side effects were assessed by measuring hand grip strength (HGS), the "timed up and go" (TUG) test, creatine phosphokinase, myoglobin, plasma electrolytes, cardiac troponin I before and after induction chemotherapy in group I. The same parameters and cranial radiotherapy dose were examined in group II at a single timepoint. Cumulative doses of chemotherapy were calculated, and echocardiograms were obtained for each group. As a result, we found that the HGS and TUG measures of group I at the end of induction were poorer than measures of the first admission, control subjects, and group II. Low HGS measures had been normalized over time, but the TUG measures remained poor. Overt rhabdomyolysis and pyomyositis were not detected in any of the patients. These results suggested that muscle side effect monitoring might be helpful in the follow-up of children with ALL.

Iron overload in hereditary hemochromatosis and hematologic malignancy has unfavorable effects on morbidity. Herein, 53 children (age 108.4±58.3 mo, 25 girls and 28 boys) with acute myeloblastic and lymphoblastic leukemia, who received 4 different chemotherapy protocols, were evaluated for iron overload throughout chemotherapy. Iron overload arose: (1) before chemotherapy, which was dependent on neither chemotherapy nor packed red blood cell transfusions and (2) after chemotherapy, which was dependent on the duration and nature of chemotherapy and partially on transfusion of packed red blood cells. Iron overload was documented in 75% of patients with a ferritin level >1000 ng/mL, by liver and heart magnetic resonance imaging, and they were administered iron-chelation therapy with success. Three of 10 radiologically iron-overloaded patients were heterozygous for H63D mutation. Aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen levels were normal. Light microscopic examination of the bone marrow revealed increased iron granules in erythroblasts, platelets, and megakaryocytes, iron-laden macrophages, free iron in the matrix, dyshematopoiesis, and apoptotic cells. Electron microscopic examination revealed iron-laden secondary lysosomes and autolysosomes in normoblasts and iron-laden primary granules in promyelocytes, irrelevant to the ferritin level, implying autophagia due to chemotherapy as a source of the excess iron. We think that iron overload, which is an important complication of acute leukemia, should be evaluated separately from "transfusion overload," and the management principles specific to leukemia should be implemented.

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A 9-year-old girl with intractable anemia, rare mucocutaneous bleeding, and pallor was presented. Hemoglobin was 49 g/L; reticulocyte 0.79%, mean corpuscular volume 81 fL, platelet 37×10⁹/L; white blood cell count 3.2×10⁹/L with dysmorphic cells in peripheric blood. Further evaluation revealed 10% cellularity with grade IV reticulin fibrosis, immature, and/or dysplastic hematopoietic cells without sideroblasts, or blast increase in biopsy, Monosomy 8 was found in bone marrow aspiration material using FISH. Vitamin B12, folic acid, hemoglobin electrophoresis, immunoglobulin levels, CD55, CD59, complement 3, 4, abdominal ultrasonography, chest x-ray were normal; diepoxybutane, acid ham, sucrose lysis tests, viral serologies, antinuclear antibody, anti DNA were negative. On diagnosis of "Myelodysplastic Syndrome-refractory cytopenia with hypocellular fibrosis," she received a successful allogeneic BM transplantation from her full matched sibling.