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Elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are frequently not treated with standard immunochemotherapy, and this influences survival negatively. The purpose of this study was to gain more insight into treatment decision-making by hematologists. Case vignettes concerning patients with DLBCL were presented to hematologists in the Netherlands. Patient characteristics (age, comorbidity) differed per case. Respondents were asked in each case if they would treat the patient with curative intent by means of full-dose chemotherapy or chemotherapy with dose reduction or if they would not treat the patient with curative intent. The vast majority of respondents would treat an elderly patient diagnosed with DLBCL without a relevant medical history with full-dose chemotherapy irrespective of age. In the presence of comorbidity, lack of social support, cognitive disorders, and untreated depression dose reductions in advance are frequently applied or patients are not treated with curative intent. This is most pronounced for patients aged older than 80 years. Respondents working in a university hospital more frequently refrain form full-dose chemotherapy with curative intent compared to respondents working in tertiary medical teaching hospitals or general hospitals. Patients without a relevant medical history are generally treated with curative intent irrespective of age. Cognitive disorders, comorbidity, and depression reduce the change of being treated with curative intent. This is most prominent in the eldest patient category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 91 of 106 adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) enrolled in the treatment protocol ALL HOVON-5 between May 1988 and October 1991, the immunophenotype of the leukemia was determined and correlated with clinical characteristics at presentation. The immunological marker analysis was performed in ten laboratories, all members of the Dutch Study Group on Immunophenotyping of Leukemias and Lymphomas (SIHON). Undifferentiated blasts were found in four patients, 67 had B-lineage ALL, 18 had T-lineage ALL, and two had biphenotypic ALL. The age of T-lineage ALL patients was lower (mean 29.3) than that of B-lineage ALL patients (mean 35.5). Tumor mass, as expressed by leukocyte count, organomegaly, and LDH, was more pronounced in T-lineage ALL. Hemoglobin and platelet count was similar in all (sub)types. CD34 was expressed in 58% of the leukemias, but most frequently in the common B-ALL (70%). Thirteen percent of the leukemias expressed one or more markers not associated with their lineage. In this prospective study immunological data were not evaluable for 15 patients. On four of them data were not available because of dry tap, for six patients the typing was technically insufficient, and for four patients the results were unclassifiable; with one patient the marker analysis was not performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]