Cholorambucil versus cholorambucil plus prednisolone as first-line therapy of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in west of Iran

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL] has been the most common type of leukemia in adults worldwide, and then more common in the elderly, markedly more common in patients over the age of 65 years. Seventy patients with CLL have referred to Clinic of Hematology-Oncology, Kermanshah, Iran, between Jan 2000 and Jun 2014. We have analyzed age, sex, survival, kind of chemotherapy and type of response in all of the patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Survival curves of complete response patients have compared with partial response, by log-rank test using the Prism 5 GraphPad Software for the five-year period with two years follow up. The mean age of patients was 61.57 +/- 8.88 years that 55.7% were males. Between the 70 patients, 40 patients [57.1%] have started treatment with chlorambucil and 30 patients [42.9%] with chlorambucil plus prednisolone. Among the forty patients that have treated with chlorambucil, overall response rate was 95% that 9 patients [22.5%] had complete response. Among the 30 patients that have treated with chlorambucil plus prednisolone, overall response rate was 96%, that 9 patients [30%] had complete response after six months of treatment. The mean of five-year overall survival for treated patients with chlorambucil and chlorambucil plus prednisolone in the first-line of therapy was 38.5 and 40.5 months, respectively. Combination of prednisolon to chlorambucil has increased survival rate in the patients more than mono-therapy with chlorambucil and also the complete response rate to chlorambucil in West of Iran was better than other areas of world

Appearance of acute myelogenous leukemia [AML] in a patient with breast cancer after adjuvant chemotherapy: case report and review of the literature

Acute Myelogenous Leukemia [AML] is an aggressive hematologic malignancy that cause by abnormal proliferation and accumulation of hematopoietic progenitor cells. A 37-year-old woman referred to oncologic clinic with a self-detected mass and pain in her left breast. The stage of tumor was IIIA. She was treated with the combination of anthracycline and cyclophosphamide for four courses, followed by four courses of paclitaxel with trastuzumab for one year. After 18 months of the first treatment for breast cancer, her bone marrow biopsy was compatible with AML-M2. Here, we are reporting a young woman case with breast cancer that developed AML malignancy during short interval of therapy

Characteristics of patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in Kermanshah province, Iran

Background: In Iran, bladder cancer is one of the most common malignancy sites among men, ranking as the fifth with age-specific incidence rate of about 11.2 per 100,000 males. It causes 8% of all malignancies in men and 3% of all malignancies in women

Objectives: The aim of this study was to report the epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features of bladder cancer in Western Iran compared to other studies

Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study between 2003 and 2014 when forty-four patients with bladder cancer referred to Hematology Clinic of Kermanshah, Kermanshah, Iran. Transitional cell carcinoma [TCC] was in 39 patients

Results: In the patients with TCC, the mean age in diagnosis for them was 65.43 years [ +/- 11.64], range of age 42 to 88 years, thirty-three patients [84.6%] were male, and six patients [15.4%] were female. Of 39 patients with TCC, 16 patients [41%] had metastasis. 21 patients [53.8%] were smoker and 16 patients [41%] had muscle invasive. 35 patients [89.7%] were histological high grade and the rest of patients were low grade. In the TCC patients with increasing age, metastasis and muscle invasive increased

Conclusions: The age presentation of TCC in West Iran was similar to other studies. Percentage of patients with high grade is more than other studies, and also the number of patients with bladder cancer has increased during last 4 years. For better results, studies must be conducted with more patients in this area, and other areas of Iran with checking of genetics, race and environmental factors