In a nutshell
The study evaluated how frequently patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) develop secondary blood cancers (SBC) in the real world. The main finding was that the occurrence of SBC, especially those in bone marrow, was rare among these patients.
Some background
Patients with CLL often face a poor prognosis due to other medical conditions, such as infections, autoimmune conditions, or SBC. Recent chemotherapies and immunotherapies significantly improved outcomes in patients with CLL. However, it is unclear how frequently SBCs develop in such patients outside of clinical trials.
Methods & findings
The study analyzed the data of 2631 patients with CLL from the cancer registry of Norway. All patients were followed up for 6.6 years on average.
103 patients (3.9%) developed SBCs. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), a cancer of white blood cells, was the most common SBC, occurring in 65 patients. Myeloid neoplasia (MN) occurred in 15 patients and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in 12 patients. The average survival among patients with SBCs was 1.7 years for DLBCL, 0.8 years for HL and 2.8 years for MN. Patients with no SBCs survived for 9.3 years on average.
Patients with SBCs who received CLL treatment before SBC diagnosis were younger and survived shorter than those who did not previously received CLL treatment.
The bottom line
The authors concluded that SBC was a rare event in patients with CLL, but it was associated with a poor prognosis.
The fine print
This study looked back in time to analyze data of patients in Norway only. Similar real-world studies need to be conducted in other countries as well for stronger evidence.
Published By :
European Journal of Haematology
Date :
Feb 14, 2020
