Summary. Bone marrow aspirates (BMA) and trephine biopsies (BMT) are commonly performed in the staging of patients with newly diagnosed Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) but the value of these procedures is controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of the blood count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) for bone marrow involvement (BMI) and the influence of BMI on stage and prognostic score. A retrospective analysis of 955 patients with newly diagnosed HL entered into clinical trials in a regional cancer centre between 1975 and 1999 was performed. BMI was identified by BMT in 50 patients (5AE2%) but in only five of these by BMA. The negative predictive values of a normal full blood count (FBC) and ESR for absence of BMI were 98AE8% and 97AE3%, respectively, and the positive predictive value of an abnormal FBC and ESR for presence of BMI were both 6AE7%. BMT did not alter initial patient management in a single case but provided valuable prognostic information in certain subgroups of patients. BMA gave no additional staging information over BMT and abnormalities of blood count and ESR were poor predictors of infiltration. We conclude that BMA should be abandoned for staging purposes in HL and BMT restricted to patients with stage IIB or III disease, for whom valuable prognostic information may be obtained.

Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) is characterized by t(15;17), which results in the formation of two chimaeric genes, PML-RAR alpha and RAR alpha-PML. PML-RAR alpha transcripts have been detected in all cases of APL whilst those of RAR alpha-PML have been detected in only about 67% of cases. We have used reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect both fusion transcripts serially in 18 patients in remission of APL after chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. All patients were negative for PML-RAR alpha, whereas in six patients (remission 3-9 years) RAR alpha-PML was consistently detected. Only one patient at remission showed the 5' breakpoint RAR alpha-PML, with the rest showing the 3' breakpoint 144 bp RAR alpha-PML. The level of sensitivity for detecting RAR alpha-PML was some 10-fold higher than that for PML-RAR alpha. Serial negative tests for PML-RAR alpha have been correlated with durable remissions, suggesting possible eradication of residual leukaemia in APL. Our results, however, show persistence of t(15;17) cells expressing RAR alpha-PML fusion mRNA in patients in long-term remission of APL. They indicate that patients considered clinically 'cured' of APL still have molecular evidence of minimal residual disease and also provide further insight into the biology of acute myeloid leukaemia.

Although hairy cell leukaemia was first described 40 years ago, it is only in the last decade that newer therapeutic agents have enabled effective treatment. The purine nucleoside analogue, 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA) is currently considered as first-line therapy with a very high rate of complete remission. Although adverse events with 2-CdA are increasingly recognized, severe cutaneous reactions have been reported rarely. We describe two consecutive patients treated with 2-CdA for hairy cell leukaemia who both suffered extremely severe cutaneous reactions, one of which was life-threatening.

Summary. We report the case of a 38-year-old man who developed IgA myeloma of donor origin 7 years after allogeneic renal transplant. The diagnosis of multiple myeloma was unequivocal and based on positive results from serum electrophoresis, skeletal survey and bone marrow investigations. The donor origin of the myeloma cells was con®rmed by DNA ®ngerprinting. We believe this is the ®rst reported case of disseminated multiple myeloma of donor origin developing after allogeneic renal transplant and, as such, gives some insight into the natural history and biology of the disease.

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