Four cases of therapy-related leukemia

Combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy have contributed to the successful treatment of various cancer patients. But the development of second malignancies is an inevitable complication of long-term cytotoxic treatment. The most serious and frequent of such complications is acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Therapy-related leukemia is generally fatal. Since the number of patients exposed to chemotherapy is increasing each year, the clinical significance of this entity cannot be underestimated. There have been many investigations of therapy-related leukemia, but in Korea published reports are rare. We describe four such cases, involving one older female with lung cancer and three children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and malignant lymphoma. Alkylating agents were used for chemotherapy, and in one case, topoisomerase II inhibitor. Irrespective of the causative agents, the latency periods were relatively short, and despite induction chemotherapy in two, all survived for only a few months. During the follow-up of patients treated for primary malignancies, the possibility of therapy-related leukemia should always be borne in mind.