Granulocytic sarcoma is an uncommon tumor composed of granulocytic precursor cells. Because it occurs in a variety of clinical settings and because the tumor cells are primitive it is frequently unrecognized during life. This presentation details the authors' experience with 61 biopsy-proven granulocytic sarcomas. The patient age range was from 2 to 81 years (mean 48 years). In eight patients the tumors were multiple. Most common sites of involvement were bone, periosteum, soft tissue, lymph node and skin. Twenty-two tumors occurred in 15 patients with no known disease, 26 occurred in 24 patients with a known myeloproliferative disorder, and 13 occurred in 11 patients with proven acute myeloid leukemia. Thirteen of the 15 patients with no known disease developed acute leukemia in from one to 49 months after the biopsy of their tumors (mean 10 months). Most tumors occurring in patients with a known myeloproliferative disorder were associated with blast crisis. The authors' cases displayed a morphologic range from well-differentiated to those tumors that displayed virtually no evidence of differentiation by conventional microscopy. It was therefore not surprising that most tumors were originally diagnosed as lymphoma. Chloro-acetate esterase (CAE) stains were performed on 56 tumors and 47 were studied with antilysozyme immunoperoxidase technique. Fifty-six of the 57 specimens studied by either technique were positive. Antilysozyme immunoperoxidase stains were particularly useful in confirming the diagnosis.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that high-dose asparaginase consolidation therapy improves survival in pediatric patients with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and advanced stage lymphoblastic lymphoma. Five hundred and fifty-two patients (357 patients with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 195 patients with advanced stage lymphoblastic lymphoma) were enrolled in POG study 8704 (T-3). Treatment included rotating combinations of high-dose myelosuppressive chemotherapy agents proven to be effective in T cell ALL in other POG group-wide or local institutional protocols (including vincristine, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, prednisone, asparaginase, teniposide, cytarabine and mercaptopurine). After achieving a complete remission (CR), patients were randomized to receive or not receive high-dose intensive asparaginase consolidation (25,000 IU/m2) given weekly for 20 weeks by intramuscular injection. Intrathecal chemotherapy (methotrexate, hydrocortisone and cytarabine) was given to prevent CNS disease, and CNS irradiation was used only for patients with leukemia and an initial WBC of >50,000/microl or patients with active CNS disease at diagnosis. CR was achieved in 96% of patients. The high-dose asparaginase regimen was significantly superior to the control regimen for both the leukemia and lymphoma subgroups. Four-year continuous complete remission rate (CCR) for the leukemia patients was 68% (s.e. 4%) with asparaginase as compared to 55% (s.e. 4%) without. For the lymphoma patients, 4-year CCR was 78% (s.e. 5%) with asparaginase and 64% (s.e. 6%) in the controls. The overall one-sided logrank test had a P value <0.001 favoring asparaginase, while corresponding values were P = 0.002 for ALL and P = 0.048 lymphoblastic lymphoma. Toxicities were tolerable, but there were 18 failures due to secondary malignancies (16 with non-lymphocytic leukemia or myelodysplasia). Neither WBC at diagnosis (leukemia patients) nor lymphoma stage were major prognostic factors. We conclude that when added to a backbone of effective rotating agents, repeated doses of asparaginase during early treatment improve the outcome for patients with T cell leukemia and advanced stage lymphoblastic lymphoma.

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Between 1962 and 1986, a total of 338 consecutive newly diagnosed children and adolescents with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) were evaluated and treated at St Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH). Median follow-up is 6.6 years (range, 1.8 to 23 years). The patients ranged in age from 7 months to 21 years (median, 10 years), and 71% were males. All cases were staged (I to IV) by a clinical staging system. Eighteen percent were stage I, 21% stage II, 43% stage III, and 18% stage IV. Cases frankly leukemic at diagnosis (ie, greater than 25% marrow blasts) were excluded from the analysis. Pathologic material from all cases was reviewed and classified according to the Working Formulation. The histologic distribution of cases was as follows: 38.8% diffuse small non-cleaved cell (undifferentiated, Burkitt's and non-Burkitt's); 26.3% diffuse large-cell, mainly immunoblastic; 28.1% lymphoblastic; and 6.8% other. Treatment policy evolved over time to a stage- and histology-specific strategy for treatment assignment, and overall results significantly improved by era from 37% (+/- 5%) 2-year event-free survival (EFS) for patients treated before 1975 to 77% (+/- 4%) since 1978. By univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, the era of treatment (hence, the protocol-specific treatment itself), the stage, and the log of the initial serum lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) emerged as the most powerful prognostic indicators, while histology per se was not significantly related to outcome. For the 154 patients treated since 1978, the 2-year EFS by stage was 97% (+/- 3%) for stage I, 86% (+/- 6%) for stage II, 73% (+/- 6%) for stage III, and 47% (+/- 11%) for stage IV (P less than .0001). Compared with our previous experience, we conclude that the cure rate of childhood NHL has doubled in the last decade with modern management.