Clinical features and prognostic factors in solitary plasmacytoma

This study aimed to review the clinical features and outcome of 53 patients with solitary plasmacytoma managed at our Institution between 1976 and 2012. Thirty-five patients had bone solitary plasmacytoma and 18 extramedullary solitary plasmacytoma. Tumour sizes were larger in patients with bone involvement (P=0·003). Treatment consisted of local radiotherapy (n=26), radiotherapy+chemotherapy (n=15), surgery (n=4) and chemotherapy (n=8); the local control rate was 94·3%. Progression to multiple myeloma was recorded in 20/35 (57·1%) patients with bone involvement and in 1/18 (5·5%) patients with extramedullary disease (P=0·0003). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 78·4%; bone solitary plasmacytoma patients had a significantly worse OS (71·9% vs. 88·2%, respectively; P=0·029) and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS; 53·0% vs. 88·5%; P=0·0003) compared to extramedullary solitary plasmacytoma patients. On univariate analysis, bone disease and size (≥5cm) impacted negatively on PFS (P=0·0027 and P=0·04, respectively). Bone disease also affected OS (P=0·04). In multivariate analysis bone location was the only independent prognostic factor for PFS (P=0·0041) and OS (P=0·021). Patients with bone solitary plasmacytoma have a significantly worse prognosis than extramedullary solitary plasmacytoma cases

Independent prognostic impact of CD15 on complete remission achievement in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

The prognostic role of CD15 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been tested in different studies with conflicting results. To address this issue, we retrospectively evaluated a cohort of 460 AML patients of all ages with the exclusion of acute promyelocytic leukemia (M/F 243/217, median age 50.6 years [range 0.9-81.2]) intensively treated at our institute between January 1999 and December 2010. CD15 positivity was found in 171 of 406 evaluable patients (42.1%). Complete remission (CR) was achieved by 334 patients (72.6%), while 82 (17.8%) were resistant and 44 (9.6%) died during induction: the median CR duration was 15.5 months (range 0.6-176.0), with 2-year disease-free survival rate of 45.1% (95% confidence interval 39.6-50.6). The median overall survival was 14.4 months (range 0.3-177.0), with 2-year overall survival rate of 42.2% (95% confidence interval 37.5-46.9). At univariate analysis for CR achievement, age  8 g/dL (P = .020), and white blood cell < 50 × 10(9) /L (P = .034) had a favorable impact. At a multivariate logistic regression model, CD15 positivity (P = .002), age < 60 years (P = .008), white blood cell < 50 × 10(9) /L (P = .017), and low-risk/no high-risk karyotype (P = .026/P = .025) retained an independent prognostic role on CR achievement. The baseline assessment of CD15 positivity appears to have a role in the risk evaluation for CR achievement in AML patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy and should be assessed in prospective studies together with other clinical and biologic features already reported