title: Tuberculosis in acute leukemia: a clinico-hematological profile.
abstract: We studied 130 consecutive cases of acute leukemia over a 2-year period and identified 9 cases (6.9%) with active tuberculosis (TB). Eight patients with TB had acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Patients with AML were more likely to develop TB as compared to patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) despite the wider use of steroids and radiotherapy in ALL protocols {OR 4.41 (CI 0.53-36.44)}. Only 1 patient died of disseminated TB during post induction neutropenia. All other patients were successfully managed using current anti-tuberculous therapy (ATT). On the whole, TB did not cause any undue delay in chemotherapy and did not flare up during subsequent chemotherapy cycles. However it is not a commonly described infection in acute leukemia and a high index of suspicion is warranted especially in areas endemic for TB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, AIIMS, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Pravas
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Rajat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Manoranjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahapatra
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dixit
authors.forename: Tathagat
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chaterjee
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Choudhry
authors.forename: Renu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Choudhry
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007938:Leukemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid; D008297:Male; D009503:Neutropenia; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents