Clinical analysis of 33 patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL)-diagnostic criteria and significance of high- and low-risk ATL

✍ Scribed by Kazuo Tamura; Nobuhiko Nagamine; Yasuhiko Araki; Masashi Seita; Akihiko Okayama; Kiyohide Kawano; Nobuyoshi Tachibana; Kazunori Tsuda; Yasumasa Kuroki; Hiromi Narita; Shouhei Inoue; Junji Suzumiya; Akinobu Sumiyoshi; Yatsuki Aratake; Sachiya Ohtaki; Junichiro Torigoe; Jitsuyo Kawachi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 913 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910370303

✦ Synopsis

The clinical characteristics of 33 patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) are described. All patients were born and have lived in Miyazaki Prefecture (southwest of Japan). Because of a wide range of clinical presentations and courses, they were subdivided into 2 groups. In the high-risk group, patients presented with high white-cell counts (WBC 2 20,0001pl) and over 30% of abnormal lymphoid cells (I8 patients) and hypercalcemia with a low percentage of leukemic cells (5 patients). In this group the median survival time was only 3 months despite various modes of treatment. In contrast, patients of the second group exhibited a low percentage of abnormal lymphoid cells (WBC < ZO,OOO/pl and/or leukemic cells < 30%) and had no hypercalcemia (8 patients). Their clinical course was chronic with a median survival of 8 months, regardless of modalities of treatment. Two patients went through a period when the number of circulating leukemic cells was low ( 5 5%) before overt leukemia appeared. Other clinical features, signs, symptoms, routine laboratory data, serum anti-ATL-associated antibody, cell membrane markers and cytogenetic studies were similar to those observed in other districts of Kyushu island.