Summary
We examined the relationship between initial blood fetal hemoglobin (HbF) concentration and prognosis in 100 children with leukemia. HbF concentration was usually elevated and ranged between 0 and 19.5 g/l. Multivariate analysis showed that, in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), each increment of 1 g/l in initial HbF concentration resulted in a 1.13-fold rise in the risk of death or relapse (95% confidence limits 1.01–1.25,P<0.05). In patients with myeloid leukemias, each increment of 1 g/l in HbF was associated with a 1.20-fold (1.05–1.37,P<0.02) rise in the risk of death or relapse. In the patients with myeloid leukemias the mean initial HbF concentration was also higher (3.4 g/l; 0.5–19.5 g/l) than in the patients with ALL (1.1 g/l; 0–18.7 g/l;P = 0.08). Our results indicate that the degree of increase in HbF synthesis is associated with the degree of malignancy: the more aggressive the disease, the more augmented is the synthesis of HbF.
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Rautonen, J., Siimes, M.A. Initial blood fetal hemoglobin concentration is elevated and is associated with prognosis in children with acute lymphoid or myeloid leukemia. Blut 61, 17–20 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01739428
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01739428
