[Patients with a haematological malignancy in intensive care]

In this case report we describe 2 patients with acute leukaemia, a 38-year-old and a 21-year-old woman who were both admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) twice for different complications of underlying disease and chemotherapy. Although the survival rates for patients with haematological malignancies requiring admission to intensive care have increased in the last two decades, many physicians are still reluctant to admit these patients to intensive care. However, 50% of these patients are successfully discharged from intensive care, regardless of age or underlying haematological disease. The length of stay in the ICU does not correlate with mortality in the ICU either. Intensive mechanical ventilation and multiple organ failure increase mortality in patients with haematological malignancies undergoing intensive treatment in an ICU.