Abstract 283: Establishing the predominant type of leukemia among patients attending the Uganda Cancer Institute

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Leukemia is a cancer of white blood cells. It is characterized by an abnormal accumulation of WBC in the bone marrow which leads to bone marrow failure and is manifested in form of anemia and thrombocytopenia. This arises from neoplastic transformation usually of a single cell. There are four common types of leukemia: 1) Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL); 2) Acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML); 3) Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); and Chronic myeloid/myclocytic leukemia (CML). Methods: The study was designed to find out the predominant type of leukemia. 80 leukemia cases which comprised of all bone marrow aspirates and peripheral blood slide results with specific age, sex and ward of the patients was analyzed in the hematology laboratory. Results: The study was revealed that leukemia occurred in following order of types of predominant that is AML 15 (18.75%), CLL 12(15%) and least type was CML 11(13.75%). The result also showed that the most affected age group by all age. Brackets of (01-20) years. From the study a male preponderance (M: F) of 4:3 was found in cases of ALL. The study emphasizes that special staining techniques be adopted in diagnosing and typing of leukemia. Conclusions: From the results presented, ALL is the predominant type of leukemia affecting children and young adults. AML was found to affect children, young adults, and adults. CLL and CML were found to occur at the same incidence, the elderly (61-70 and 71-80 years). Other types were rare in these age group similarly CLL and CML were rare in children and young adults. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Gerald Nsubuga. Establishing the predominant type of leukemia among patients attending the Uganda Cancer Institute [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 283. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-283