Administering myelosuppressive chemotherapy to patients with aggressive malignant hematologic disorders typically poses serious infectious complications, which can be exacerbated by the presence of active COVID-19 infection. We report on a case of a successfully treated fit elderly woman with refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who also had mild COVID-19 infection and detectable viral load at the time she was found to have recurrent disease. Prior to initiation of reinduction treatment with cytarabine/idarubicin, this 2-dose COVID-19-vaccinated patient received antiviral therapy with remdesivir with resolution of upper respiratory symptoms. This was followed by sotrovimab on the third day of chemotherapy. Throughout her hospital course, she remained hemodynamically stable with one episode of neutropenic fever without other identified infections. Symptomatic reactivation of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19 was not observed. After achieving biopsy-confirmed morphologic remission of AML and with neutrophil recovery, the patient gradually cleared the virus, eventually testing negative on polymerase chain reaction test of the nasopharynx. This case underlines the importance of considering initiation of timely chemotherapy, although myelosuppressive, in appropriate patients with aggressive hematologic malignancies and concomitant SARS-CoV-2. It demonstrates management of active COVID-19 infection in this group of patients and the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 viral load during leukemia treatment.

We examined the meaning of metabolically active lesions on 1 month restaging nuclear imaging of patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) receiving axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) by assessing the relationship between total metabolic tumor volume (MTV) on positron emission tomography (PET) scans and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the plasma. In this prospective multicenter sample collection study, MTV was retrospectively calculated via commercial software at baseline, 1 and 3 months post chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy; ctDNA was available pre and post axi-cel. Spearman correlation coefficient (rs) was used to study the relationship between the variables and a mathematical model was constructed to describe tumor dynamics 1 month post CAR T-cell therapy. The median time between baseline scan and axi-cel infusion was 33 (range, 1-137) days for all 57 patients. For 41 of the patients with imaging within 33 days of axi-cel or imaging before that time but no bridging therapy, the correlation at baseline became stronger (rs 0.61, P< 0.0001) compared to all patients (rs 0.38, P= 0.004). Excluding patients in complete remission with no measurable residual disease, ctDNA and MTV at 1 month did not correlate (rs 0.28, P= 0.11), but did correlate at 3 months (rs 0.79, P= 0.0007). Modeling of tumor dynamics, which incorporated ctDNA and inflammation as part of MTV, recapitulated outcomes of patients with positive radiologic 1-month scans. Our results suggested that non-progressing hypermetabolic lesions on 1 month PET represent ongoing treatment response and their composition may be elucidated by concurrent ctDNA.

No abstract

No abstract