No abstract

Multiple induction regimens have been developed for adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, there have been no prospective randomized trials that directly compare these regimens. In this study, we wanted to evaluate the outcome of 50 adult ALL patients treated with BFM (i.e. Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster, n = 20) and hyper-CVAD (n = 30) protocols between March 2006 and October 2012. The median age was 25 years in the BFM group and 30.5 years in the hyper-CVAD group with a male/female ratio of 15:5 and 17:13, respectively. Forty-five percent of the patients in the BFM group and 30.3% in the hyper-CVAD group were <25 years old. The majority of cases were B cell in origin (80% in the BFM group and 70% in the hyper-CVAD group). Complete remission after induction therapy was achieved in 95 and 96% of the patients, respectively. The median follow-up time was 37 months. The 5-year survival rate was higher in the BFM group than in the hyper-CVAD group (59 vs. 34%). There were also no complications which could cause a delay during the hyper-CVAD regimen. Both chemotherapies were well tolerated. None of the patients died from drug-related toxicity. Only mild liver enzyme elevations were seen as toxicity in the BFM group; these did not cause any delay in therapy. The BFM regimen seems to be feasible for adult patients with ALL in terms of tolerability and efficacy, especially in young adults.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determinewhether or not imatinib mesylate therapy induces growth hormone deficiency (GHD). Subjects and Methods: Seventeen patients with chronic myloid leukemia (CML) were enrolled in the study. The glucagon stimulation test (GST), and standard deviation scores (SDSs) of insulin-like growth fac- tor 1 (IGF-I) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP-3) were used to determine GHD. The L-dopa test was performed on those with IGF-I SDSs above the –1.8 cut-off level. Results: Of the 17 patients in the study, 12 (70%) had severe GHD (serum GH level <3 μg/l after GST). IGF-I SDSs and IGFBP-3 SDSs were below –1.8 in 12 patients (70%) and below –0.9 in 10 subjects (58%). Four of the 5 remaining subjects with IGF-I SDS >–1.8 showed insufficient GH response to L-dopa stimulation. Nine subjects (52%) had both severe GHD based on GST response and IGF-I SDS below –1.8. If an IGF-I SDS cut-off value l<–3 were used,5 out of 17 subjects (30%) would be classified as GH deficient. These same patients also showed severe GHD based on GST response. Conclusions: The data showed that a large number of patients on imatinib mesylate therapy had GH deficiency. A study involving a larger number of patients with a matched control group is needed to confirm the present observations.

Malignant lymphoma that secondarily involves the cervix is a rare condition and may be difficult to distinguish from follicular cervicitis and small cell carcinoma. Cervical lymphoma is sometimes misdiagnosed on cervicovaginal cytology due to its rarity. We report a case of a cervical lymphoma in a 65-year-old woman, which was diagnosed as a squamous cell carcinoma on cervicovaginal cytology.

Objective: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a high-grade neoplasm that has heterogeneous properties in clinical, morphological, and immunophenotypic aspects. In the present study the effects of p53, Bcl-2, and Ki67 on prognosis and their relationships with clinical parameters were examined. 
 Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients who had been diagnosed with nodally located DLBCL at İzmir Atatürk Training and Research Hospital between January 1999 and June 2006 were included in the study. The Ann Arbor classification system was used to determine the stage of the patients. The patients were evaluated according to age, sex, stage, B symptoms, extranodal involvement, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level as well as immunohistochemically. P53 protein and Bcl-2 oncoprotein expressions and Ki67 proliferation index were assessed immunohistochemically. Results: High Bcl-2 expression was found in 9 patients (25.7%), high p53 expression was found in 10 patients (28.6%), and high Ki67 was observed in 23 patients (65.7%). There was no significant correlation between p53 expression, Bcl-2 expression, or Ki67 proliferation index and age, sex, stage, B symptoms, extranodal involvement, LDH level, and overall survival (p>0.05). We did not find a relationship among p53 expression, Bcl-2 expression, Ki67 proliferation index, and prognosis (p>0.05). There was no significant relationship between overall survival and age, sex, stage, B symptoms, extranodal involvement, or LDH level (p>0.05). Our results revealed that Bcl-2 and p53 protein expressions and Ki67 proliferation index have no effect on overall survival of patients with DLBCL.Conclusion: The prognostic importance of p53 and Bcl-2 protein expressions and Ki67 proliferation index in DLBCL, which has biological and clinical heterogeneity, can be understood in a large series of studies that have subclasses and immunohistochemical markers with optimal cut-off values.