1. Immature reticulocyte fraction is an early predictor of bone marrow recovery post chemotherapy in patients with acute leukemia.
- Author
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Raja-Sabudin RZ, Othman A, Ahmed-Mohamed KA, Ithnin A, Alauddin H, Alias H, Abdul-Latif Z, Das S, Abdul-Wahid FS, and Hussin NH
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Leukemia, Myelomonocytic, Acute blood, Leukocyte Count, Male, Middle Aged, Neutrophils, Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma blood, Prospective Studies, Remission Induction, Reticulocyte Count, Young Adult, Bone Marrow physiopathology, Leukemia, Myelomonocytic, Acute drug therapy, Leukemia, Myelomonocytic, Acute physiopathology, Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma drug therapy, Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma physiopathology, Reticulocytes pathology
- Abstract
Objective: To establish the benefits of immature reticulocyte fraction (IRF) measurement using an automated hematology cells analyzer over absolute neutrophil count (ANC) in predicting bone marrow recovery post induction chemotherapy., Methods: A prospective observational study was carried out in the Departments of Pathology, Medicine, and Pediatrics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Medical Center (UKMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during a period of 19 months from April 2009 to December 2010 to assess the bone marrow recovery in patients with acute leukemia. A total of 22 patients in remission induction phases were enrolled in this study. The blood specimens were collected from day zero after chemotherapy, and every 3 days until patients recovered hematologically. All blood samples were measured for ANC and IRF using an automated hematology analyzer (Beckman-Coulter LH750)., Results: The percentage of patients showing IRF recovery earlier than ANC recovery was 63.6% (14 out of 22 patients). There was a significant difference in the mean number of days for IRF recovery as compared with ANC recovery (14.05 and 17.18 days), p=0.005., Conclusion: This study proved that IRF was more useful in predicting bone marrow recovery in a patient with acute leukemia post induction chemotherapy compared with ANC. The IRF is not affected by infection, is easily measured, and inexpensive; thus, it is a reliable parameter to evaluate bone marrow reconstitution.
- Published
- 2014