title: Circulating blasts following chemotherapy in pediatric patients: implications for complete remission definition in acute leukemia.
abstract: We assessed the incidence of circulating blasts occurring post-chemotherapy in 1000 consecutive pediatric blood samples. Blasts with myeloid morphology (<1-3%) were present in post-chemotherapy samples in 19 of 294 (6.4%) patients with acute leukemia in remission and in 11 of 361 (3.4%) patients with solid tumors, non-Hodgkin or Hodgkin lymphoma, and were associated with ANC>1.5x10(9)/l in 13 of 30 (43%) samples, and platelets >100x10(9)/l in 25 of 30 (83%) samples. Our findings suggest that the absence of circulating blasts may not be a prerequisite for remission in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onciu
authors.forename: Elihu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Estey
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Giles
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology; D022423:Myeloid Cells / Q000473:pathology; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D009626:Terminology as Topic
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents