Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023418 (leukemia)
 93,477 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A patient whose hairy cell leukaemia had begun to respond to alpha interferon therapy developed overt atypical mycobacterial infection. This eventually responded to combination antimicrobial therapy. The clinical difficulties involved in this unique case included difficulty in isolation of the organism, failure of an empirical trial of antituberculous therapy and false attribution of the patient's infective symptoms to alpha interferon.
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PMID:Atypical mycobacterial infection in alpha interferon-treated hairy cell leukaemia. 314 14

A 66-year-old man with hairy-cell leukemia was treated successfully with interferon alfa, with normalization of his hematologic parameters. After 2.5 months he became ill again and, following extensive investigation, Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare grew from a bone marrow specimen. Although initiation of quadruple antituberculous chemotherapy resulted in an improvement of his general condition, after two months he started to develop widespread cutaneous and subcutaneous nodules, biopsy of which showed appearances compatible with mycobacterial infection. Over the next two months the skin lesions progressed slowly so erythromycin, to which in vitro testing showed the organism to be sensitive, was added to his therapy. This resulted in a marked improvement of all skin lesions. This case is the first to be reported of disseminated atypical mycobacterial infection in a patient receiving interferon treatment for hairy-cell leukemia.
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PMID:Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection associated with hairy-cell leukemia. 342 30

The incidence of cutaneous atypical mycobacterial infections is increasing. Their clinical presentation is variable. The atypical mycobacteria are difficult to culture and thus diagnosis can be difficult to establish. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and mycolic acid analysis have recently been used for mycobacterial species identification, but are not routinely used. Risk factors for cutaneous atypical mycobacterial infection include (1) immunodepression due to HIV infection, lymphoma, leukemia or immunosuppressive therapy. Immunodepression is responsible for the emergence of cutaneous infections by a large variety of atypical mycobacterial species, particularly in industrialized countries. (2) The natural environment is directly responsible for the emergence of cutaneous infections but a small number of atypical mycobacterial species including M. marinum in Europe and North America, and M. ulcerans in the tropics. (3) The medical environment when sterilization is inadequate is also not uncommonly responsible. Clinical features are rarely specific for mycobacterial species, and thus analysis of factors relevant to treatment is more important than species classification. We describe environmental forms (Buruli ulcer caused by M. ulcerans is endemic in the tropics, and swimming pool granuloma which is the aquatic form of M. marinum infection), opportunist forms caused by various species in immunodepressed hosts and iatrogenic and accidental forms mostly due to M. fortiutum and M. chelonei. We review the literature and update the clinical characteristics and risk factors for these diseases.
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PMID:[Atypical mycobacterial skin infections]. 899 95

A case of a cutaneous tumor caused by atypical mycobacterial infection (Mycobacterium kansasii) in a patient with hairy cell leukemia is reported. Surgical removal of the lesion and subsequent combination antituberculotic treatment led to a cure of this infection. Remission of the leukemia was achieved with interferon alfa.
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PMID:Atypical mycobacterial infection in a patient with hairy cell leukemia. 1127 Feb 99

We report Mycobacterium fortuitum (M. fortuitum) catheter-related sepsis in a five-year-old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). This is the first reported case of M. fortuitum infection seen in our paediatric oncology patients. The patient was in haematological remission and receiving maintenance chemotherapy via an indwelling central venous catheter (Port-a-Cath). He was febrile, toxic-looking and was in respiratory distress. Clinically, he had a right pleural effusion and gross hepatomegaly. The patient was lymphopaenic and had deranged liver function test. Repeat paired blood cultures were positive for M. fortuitum. The catheter was promptly removed and he was treated aggressively with intravenous amikacin, cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and oral clarithromycin, with good clinical response. The patient remained well without further complications while on chemotherapy. M. fortuitum is an uncommon cause of catheter-related infection in patients with malignancies. Removal of an infected catheter is necessary for complete control of atypical mycobacterial infection in an immunosuppressed patient.
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PMID:Mycobacterium fortuitum catheter-related sepsis in acute leukaemia. 1675 25