IBCL-034: Hairy Cell Leukemia: Single-Center Experience

Abstract

Context Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is an uncommon, chronic B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder that represents approximately 2% of all leukemias. The lack of large national and international registries on HCL has limited the ability to identify clear clinico-epidemiological characteristics in this rare disease. Objective To evaluate the HCL patients in the Egyptian population with regard to epidemiological, pathological, immunophenotypic, and clinical data, as well as treatment modalities and outcomes. Patients This is a retrospective observational study in which 92 patients diagnosed with HCL were reviewed through electronic health records between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2019. Results Median age of patients was 50 years. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was triple that of the general population and appeared to have no effect on overall survival (OS). Most of the patients had varying degrees of cytopenia, varying from pancytopenia (50%), bicytopenia (43.5%), thrombocytopenia (69.3%), leukopenia (53%), and anemia only (6.5%). Hairy cells in peripheral blood samples were observed in 18.5% of cases. Sixty-one patients received cladribine, five patients received interferon (INF-a), six patients had palliative splenectomies, five patients were subjected to watchful waiting, and 15 patients received supportive therapy. The presence of comorbidities, age > 60 years, fever, pancytopenia, hemoglobin level Conclusions HCL in Egypt is a rare NHL that has different clinicopathological features, especially in association with hepatitis C infection, which necessitates participation in international registries for HCL, e.g., Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation, to investigate the most optimal treatment strategies for these neoplasms in the real-world population.