Background: Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) characterized by t (15;17) leading to formation of fusion protein PML-RARA is an acute leukaemia with highest mortality. A remarkable improvement in the outcomes has been witnessed due to evolution of highly effective targeted therapies replacing the traditional chemotherapy is most patients. However limited data is available regarding treatment outcomes of APL using various novel regimens from developing countries like Pakistan. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study which included APL patients treated at AFBMTC Rawalpindi from 2005 to 2020. It included a total of 51 eligible patients with a diagnosis of de novo APL confirmed by the presence of PML-RARA transcript or presence of t (15;17) by cytogenetics or FISH analysis. The protocols used for treatment included the UKAML MRC 12, the LPA-99/LPA-2005 PETHEMA, the APML4 and non-chemotherapy based ATO-ATRA protocol. Results: The study included 51 patients in which 31 (60.78%) were male and 20 (39.2%) were female. The median age at diagnosis was 30 years (range 5–70). The commonest symptom was fever seen in 43 (84.3%) patients and bruising was the commonest physical finding present in 44 (86.3%) patients. High-risk patients were 23 (46.1%), 18 (35.3%) were intermediate risk and 10 (19.6%) were low risk. The LPA99/LPA2005 was most frequently employed protocol being used in 36 (72%) patients. There were 2 deaths during induction and 44 (86.3%) achieved CR post induction. The median follow up time was 32 months (range 1 to 190 months) with an overall survival (OS) of 76.5% and a relapse free survival (RFS) of 66.7%. Conclusion: Our study shows APL is a highly curable malignancy and outcomes have improved with newer non-chemotherapy based therapies. It can also be concluded that outcomes of APL gradually improved over the past 2 decades due to improvement in supportive care, provision of blood products and use of newer protocols. The prognosis remains less favourable in high risk patients.
Background: Hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) is an uncommon neoplasm of mature B-lymphoid cells which is characterized by cytopenias, commonly of all three cell lines, with typical hairy cells on peripheral smear and/or bone marrow along with organomegaly. Objective was to document the outcomes of HCL patients treated at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. Methods: Medical records of patients from 2004 to 2020 were reviewed and data was collected to assess patient’s demographics, symptomatology, remission rate and overall survival. The record flies of all patients presenting to AFBMTC with HCL were included in the study. The record file with insufficient data were excluded Results: 26 patients with a mean age of 48.12±11.43 years were diagnosed with HCL and treated at AFBMTC. Out of these, 23 (88.4%) were male and 03 (11.5%) females. The main presenting complaints were generalized body aches (34.6%), fever (15.4%), incidental finding of cytopenias (11.5%) and abdominal discomfort (26.9%). Splenomegaly was found in 76.92% while hepatomegaly was found in 46.15% of patients. A total of 12 (46.15%) patients received Cladribine (either intravenous or subcutaneous) and splenectomy was done in 7 (26.92%) as 1st line treatment. Eleven patients out of 12 (83.33%) who received Cladribine and 05 (71.42%) patients out of seven who underwent splenectomy; achieved complete remission (CR) after 1st line of treatment. One patient received Cladribine as 1st line of treatment but did not respond and CHOP regimen was given as second line. Out of the 26 patients, 5 patients (19.23%) relapsed at a median interval of 5.83±6.6 years. Two patients received Cladribine + Rituximab while 03 patients received cladribine as their salvage therapy. Disease free survival (DFS) of 71.4% among the patients underwent splenectomy while 75.0% among the patients received Cladribine. DFS for combination therapy (included CHOP and CVP) was 66.7% while OS was calculated among patients who received cladribine, splenectomy and combination chemotherapy as 100%, 85.7%, 66.7% respectively. Conclusion: Cladribine has a significant efficacy and encouraging acute and long-term benefits when administered to patients with HCL. A single course of cladribine was able to induce CR in a vast majority of patients. At a median follow up of 4.6 years the OS was 100% with cladribine and 85% with splenectomy. Those who relapsed were successfully retreated with cladribine + Rituximab.
Objective: To reduce unnecessary requests for Serum Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels in a hospital setting using targeted interventions. Study Design: Interventional study. Setting: Najran Armed Forces Hospital (NAFH), Saudi Arabia. Period: January 2019 to June 2020. Material & Methods: Sampling technique was non probability convenient sampling and included all the TSH requests received in the laboratory. The tests were categorized into three categories e.g., repeated requests within one month, requests as routine investigation and requests not related to diagnosis. The interventions made included the initiation of hospital guidelines, resolving the limitations of Laboratory information system (LIS) and increasing awareness of physicians. The effectiveness of interventions was calculated by measuring the number of unnecessary requests out of total number of TSH requests. The comparison was made between problem identification phase and post implementation phase. Results: The analysis of data showed a reduction in the routine unnecessary TSH requests by almost 11%. During the first half of 2019(Jan -July) total number of TSH tests were 5713 with 3427 (60%) unnecessary requests. After initiation and implementation of interventions the unnecessary requests reduced by 11% during Jan-July 2020. There were only 1857(49%) unnecessary requests out of total 3827 TSH tests. These results were statistically significant with p-value of less than 0.05. Conclusion: The application of appropriate interventions decreased the unnecessary requests of TSH. This reduction in turn reduced the wastage of the cost spent and the workload implied on staff for processing these unnecessary requests.
Objective: To study the diagnostic accuracy of 20-minute whole blood clotting time in hemotoxic snakebite. Study Design: Cross sectional validation study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital Kohat Pakistan, from Jul 2015 to Jun 2017. Methodology: Study included 52 patients who presented with the complaint of a snakebite. The data was recorded on predesigned proforma including clinical, laboratory features. All the patients were kept indoor for observation for a minimum of 72 hours from the time of presentation. Results: The study showed that males were more affected with age group between 20-50 years. Most common presenting features were local swelling 33 (71%) and pain and most common snakebite type was hemotoxic 33 (71%). The 20-minute whole blood clotting time was found to have low sensitivity (61%) and specificity (58%). A significant association was found between the dose of anti-snake venom and severity of coagulopathy (p<0.001), respiratory failure (p<0.001) and development of side effects due to anti snake venom (p<0.001). The mortality rate was 6.5% and was significantly related to age of the victims (p=0.003). The diagnostic accuracy of 20-minute whole blood clotting time was 60.25%. Conclusion: The use of 20-minute whole blood clotting time can not only be misleading but also a source of delay in administering anti snake venom given the low sensitivity and specificity and high false negative rate.
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