Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1982 Aug;46(2):160–166. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1982.179

Natural history of smouldering leukaemia.

A S Joseph, K I Cinkotai, L Hunt, C G Geary
PMCID: PMC2011081  PMID: 7150470

Abstract

The natural history of 45 cases of smouldering leukaemia has been studied. Males and females were equally represented, with a median age of 60.5. The median survival of the whole group was only 20 months, but rare cases lived 10 years or longer. 38% developed acute leukaemia; the remainder usually died of the results of marrow failure. Although it was possible to divide these marrow dysplasias morphologically into 3 major subgroups (refractory anaemia with excess of myeloblasts, chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia and chronic erythraemic myelosis), several displayed transitional features. Many showed refractory macrocytosis at diagnosis. The survival of the 3 groups was similar, though patients with high monocyte counts tended to present with less anaemia and fared rather better than the others. Statistical analysis suggests that increasing age, severe anaemia, thrombocytopenia and hepatomegaly are associated with a poor prognosis. Chemotherapy, when attempted, was usually unsuccessful.

Full text

PDF
166

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Broun G. O., Jr Chronic erythromonocytic leukemia. Am J Med. 1969 Nov;47(5):785–796. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(69)90171-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cohen J. R., Creger W. P., Greenberg P. L., Schrier S. L. Subacute myeloid leukemia: a clinical review. Am J Med. 1979 Jun;66(6):959–966. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(79)90451-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dohy H., Genot J. Y., Imbert M., D'Agay M. F., Sultan C. Myelodysplasia and leukaemia related to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy--a haematological study of 13 cases. Value of macrocytosis as an early sign of bone marrow injury. Clin Lab Haematol. 1980;2(2):111–119. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2257.1980.tb00814.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dreyfus B. Preleukemic states. I. Definition and classification. II. Refractory anemia with an excess of myeloblasts in the bone marrow (smoldering acute leukemia). Nouv Rev Fr Hematol Blood Cells. 1976;17(1-2):33–55. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dreyfus B., Rochant H., Sultan C., Clauvel J. P., Yvart J., Chesneau A. M. Les anémies réfractaires avec excès de myéloblastes dans la moelle. Etude de onze observations. Presse Med. 1970 Feb 14;78(8):359–364. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Geary C. G., Catovsky D., Wiltshaw E., Milner G. R., Scholes M. C., Van Noorden S., Wadsworth L. D., Muldal S., MacIver J. E., Galton D. A. Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia. Br J Haematol. 1975 Jul;30(3):289–302. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1975.tb00544.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hall R., Losowsky M. S. The distribution of erythroblast iron in sideroblastic anaemias. Br J Haematol. 1966 May;12(3):334–340. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1966.tb05640.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hast R., Reizenstein P. Sideroblastic anemia and development of leukemia. Blut. 1981 Apr;42(4):203–207. doi: 10.1007/BF00996749. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hast R. Studies on human preleukaemia. IV. Clinical and prognostic significance of sideroblasts in aregenerative anaemia with hypercellular bone marrow. Scand J Haematol. 1978 Nov;21(5):396–402. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. MOLLIN D. L. SIDEROBLASTS AND SIDEROBLASTIC ANAEMIA. Br J Haematol. 1965 Jan;11:41–48. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1965.tb00082.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Milner G. R., Testa N. G., Geary C. G., Dexter T. M., Muldal S., MacIver J. E., Lajtha L. G. Bone marrow culture studies in refractory cytopenia and 'smouldering leukaemia'. Br J Haematol. 1977 Feb;35(2):251–261. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1977.tb00582.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. RHEINGOLD J. J., KAUFMAN R., ADELSON E., LEAR A. Smoldering acute leukemia. N Engl J Med. 1963 Apr 11;268:812–815. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196304112681504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Retief F. P., Du P Heyns A., Oosthuizen M., Van Reenen O. R. In vivo plasma and urine folate binding after ingestation of 3H-folic acid and 14C-methyl-folate. Br J Haematol. 1976 Jul;33(3):415–424. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1976.tb03559.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rinehart J. J., Zanjani E. D., Nomdedeu B., Gormus B. J., Kaplan M. E. Cell-cell interaction in erythropoiesis. Role of human monocytes. J Clin Invest. 1978 Nov;62(5):979–986. doi: 10.1172/JCI109227. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES