Author/Editor		Černelč, P; Mlakar, U
Title		Zdravljenje primarne plazmacelične levkemije z interferonom alfa
Translated title		Treatment of primary plasma cell leukemia with interferon alfa
Type		članek
Source		Zdrav Vestn
Vol. and No.		Letnik 63, št. 5
Publication year		1994
Volume		str. 295-7
Language		slo
Abstract		Background. The authors present a case of primary plasma cell leukemia (PL) treated with interferon alfa. PL is a rare form of acute leukemia or more commonly, a late manifestation of multiple myeloma. The prognosis is usually poor and a brief remission is rarely achieved. Results. In a 52-year-old patient with LP a partial remission was obtained after six months of treatment with melphalan (0.25 mg/ kg b.w.) and prednisone (2.5 mg/kg b.w.), applied monthly for four days. An allogeneic bone marrow donor was available, but the patient did not consent to a transplant procedure. Consequently he was placed on maintenance therapy with interrferon alfa (Intron A, Schering-Plough) 3 x 10 6 IU t.i.d., given subcutaneously on two days per week. The partial remission lasted nine months, whereupon the patient developed a relapse, marked by anaemia, proteinuria, and accumulation of plasmacytoma cells in bone marrow but not in the peripheral blood. The melphalan-prednisone regimen was applied again, resulting in a second partial remission six months later. Conclusions. In patients with LP responding favourably to chemotherapy maintenance treatment with interrferon alfa may help to prolong the remission. This treatment is employed in patients with multiple myeloma, but its use in PL has not been reported to date. The nine-month clinical remission observed in our patient may have been the consequence of the interferon therapy, a favorable natural course of the disease or both.
Descriptors		LEUKEMIA, PLASMACYTIC INTERFERON-ALPHA MELPHALAN PREDNISONE