ISOLATED CHLOROMA - THE EFFECT OF EARLY ANTILEUKEMIC THERAPY

Objective: To evaluate the effect of antileukemic chemotherapy adminis tered at diagnosis on the survival of patients with isolated chloroma. Design: Retrospective review of locally identified patients and analy sis of cases from the medical literature. Patients: The records of all patients with isolated chloroma identified at three teaching hospital s in Toronto between 1980 and 1994 were reviewed. A MEDLINE search was done to identify all cases of isolated chloroma reported in the Engli sh-language medical literature. Patients with a previous known hematol ogic disorder were excluded. Measurements: The effect of therapy on 1) the interval between diagnosis of chloroma and diagnosis of acute mye loid leukemia and 2) survival was determined.Results: 7 local patients and 83 published cases were identified, for a total of 90 evaluable p atients. For the entire group, the median time to the diagnosis of acu te myeloid leukemia was 9 months, and median survival was 22 months. C hemotherapy was administered to 49 patients (54%) at diagnosis of chlo roma. Significantly fewer patients treated with chemotherapy subsequen tly developed acute myeloid leukemia (41% compared with 71%; P = 0.001 ). Survival was longer in patients treated with chemotherapy (>50% ali ve with a median follow-up of 25 months compared with a median surviva l of 13 months for those initially untreated; P = 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that neither local radiotherapy nor surgery had an ef fect on survival. Conclusions: Administration of antileukemic chemothe rapy at diagnosis of chloroma is associated with a significantly lower probability of developing acute myeloid leukemia and with longer surv ival.