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Prognostic Significance of Blasts in the Cerebrospinal Fluid Without Pleiocytosis or a Traumatic Lumbar Puncture in Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Experience of the Dutch Childhood Oncology Group

From the University Medical Center St Radboud, Nijmegen; University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen; and the Dutch Childhood Oncology Group, The Hague, the Netherlands

Address reprint requests to Siebold S.N. de Graaf, MD, Department of Pediatric Oncology-Hematology, UMC St Radboud, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands; e-mail: s.degraaf{at}cukz.umcn.nl

Purpose To determine the significance of blasts in the CSF without pleiocytosis and a traumatic lumbar puncture in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Patients and Methods We retrospectively studied a cohort of 526 patients treated in accordance with the virtually identical Dutch protocols ALL-7 and ALL-8. Patients were classified into five groups: CNS1, no blasts in the CSF cytospin; CNS2, blasts present in the cytospin, but leukocytes less than 5/µL; CNS3, blasts present and leukocytes more than 5/µL. Patients with a traumatic lumbar puncture (TLP; > 10 erythrocytes/mL) were classified as TLP+ (blasts present in the cytospin) or TLP– (no blasts).

Results Median duration of follow-up was 13.2 years (range, 6.9 to 15.5 years). Event-free survival (EFS) was 72.6% (SE, 2.5%) for CNS1 patients (n = 304), 70.3% (SE, 4.7%) for CNS2 patients (n = 111), and 66.7% (SE, 19%) for CNS3 patients (n = 10; no significant difference in EFS between the groups). EFS was 58% (SE, 7.6%) for TLP+ patients (n = 62) and 82% (SE, 5.2%) for TLP– patients (n = 39; P < .01). Cox regression analysis identified TLP+ status as an independent prognostic factor (risk ratio, 3.5; 95% CI, 1.4 to 8.8; P = .007). Cumulative incidence of CNS relapses was 0.05 and 0.07 in CNS1 and CNS2 patients, respectively (not statistically significant).

Conclusion In our experience, the presence of a low number of blasts in the CSF without pleiocytosis has no prognostic significance. In contrast, a traumatic lumbar puncture with blasts in the CSF specimen is associated with an inferior outcome.

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