SummaryWe studied the influence of age on mortality and severity of clotting abnormalities in 79 children (median age: 3.1 years) with meningococcal sepsis. Parameters of coagulation and fibrinolysis and plasma levels of cytokines were prospectively measured on admission. The mortality rate was 27%. The age of survivors was significantly different from that of non-survivors (p = 0.013). With the exception of FVII, vWF and t-PA, parameters of coagulation and fibrinolysis, as well as plasma cytokine levels were related to outcome. Patients were divided in two groups: younger and older than median age. The mortality in children ≤3.1 years was 40% versus 13% in children >3.1 years (p = 0.006). In contrast to cytokine levels, which were not different between the two age groups, fibrinogen, prothrombin, factors V, VII, VIII, vWF, protein C, antithrombin, FDP, and the ratio PAI-l/t-PA were related to age, indicating a more severe coagulopathy in children ≤ 3.1 years despite a similar degree of inflammatory response. A relative deficiency of coagulation factors due to an immature state of the clotting system, as well as an inadequate fibrinolytic response, both related to age may have caused this more severe coagulative response in younger children, and may have contributed to the higher mortality rate.

A randomized study was done in twenty newly diagnosed children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Ten children were treated with Escherichia coli L-asparaginase, and ten with Erwinia chrysanthemi L-asparaginase. L-asparaginase (ASP) treatment started halfway during ALL-induction treatment with vincristine, prednisone, daunorubicin and intrathecal methotrexate. The mean activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) level in all children demonstrated a significant fall (P < 0.001) from 28.25 sec at diagnosis to 23.0 sec at the start of ASP treatment. In this same time interval, the mean fibrinogen level declined markedly from 3 g/l to 1.2 g/l (P < 0.001), probably due to prednisone therapy. The APTT stayed shortened during ASP therapy, whereas the hypofibrinogenemia recovered significantly faster in the Erwinia group (P < or = 0.01). Factors (F) II, V, VII and X stayed within the normal range, while F VIII and F IX were elevated. During the entire period of induction therapy, the ATIII activity remained within the normal range in both treatment groups. The protein C values, however, demonstrated a steady decline from 140% at start of ASP treatment to a mean of 81% and 93%, respectively, at the end of the ASP therapy in the E. coli and Erwinia group. Five of the ten children treated with E. coli ASP demonstrated protein C levels below 70% at the end of ASP therapy, opposed to none of the Erwinia treated patients (P = 0.03). We suggest that the effect of ASP resulting in decreased coagulation factor synthesis is in part counterbalanced by the effect of prednisone on the coagulation system, when ASP is administered at the end of ALL induction treatment. The overall effect of ASP either of E. coli or of Erwinia on the hemorrhagic system reveals a slight imbalance towards thrombosis, mainly because of a gradual decrease in protein C activity. This imbalance is less pronounced in the Erwinia group.

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We investigated whether an indirect nuclear terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) immunofluorescence (IF) assay on single cells present in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is more effective than conventional cytomorphology for early detection or exclusion of (minimal) meningeal leukemic infiltration in patients with a TdT+ malignancy. During a 5- year follow-up study, 1,661 consecutive CSF samples from 113 children with a TdT+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (n = 100), a TdT+ acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL) (n = 8), or a TdT+ non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) (n = 5) were analyzed. In 1,511 (91.9%) of 1,643 evaluable CSF samples, the positive and negative findings of both cytomorphology and the TdT-IF assay were concordant. In 47 (2.9%) samples from 28 patients, the cytomorphology was suspect while the TdT- IF assay was negative; follow-up as long as 58 months revealed no CNS leukemia in any patient. In 85 (5.2%) samples, cytomorphology was negative (n = 70) or suspect (n = 15) but TdT+ cells were detected. RBC contamination seriously hampered evaluation in 31 of these 85 samples. From the remaining 54 TdT+ samples from 29 patients, 40 samples preceded overt CNS leukemia in 20 patients. Two consecutive findings of TdT+ cells in the CSF were always followed by overt CNS leukemia. At initial diagnosis, 11 children had TdT+ cells in their RBC-free CSF. In one of these children, morphology was suspect; a repeated lumbar puncture was positive on both assays. Thus, initial CNS leukemia was diagnosed. In the other ten children, morphology was negative. In six of them, CNS leukemia was diagnosed 2 to 20 months later. In 32 other children examined at initial diagnosis, neither TdT+ cells nor blasts were observed in the CSF. In none of these patients was a CNS leukemia diagnosed after a follow-up of 2.5 to 57 months (median 24 months). In 207 control CSF samples from 58 children with TdT- oncologic, hematologic, or infectious diseases, no TdT+ cells could be detected. The TdT-IF assay is easy to perform and is a more reliable diagnostic tool for detection of CNS leukemia at an early stage than is cytomorphology. At initial diagnosis, the finding of Tdt+ cells in a RBC-free CSF sample with a negative cytomorphology is highly predictive for development of overt CNS leukemia.