Key Points: Use of native E coli asparaginase in induction leads to high hypersensitivity rates to PEGasparaginase in intensification. Switching to Erwinia asparaginase leads to effective asparaginase activity levels in most patients who experienced an allergy to PEGasparaginase.

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.

Vincristine is one of the cornerstones of the treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Constipation, and peripheral and central neurotoxicities are the most common side effects. A comparative study exploring vincristine toxicity in individual patients receiving vincristine with and without azoles, however, is lacking. In total, 20 paediatric patients with de novo ALL were included. In each patient, vincristine toxicity in the period with and without azole co-medication was retrospectively graded according to the US National Cancer Institute toxicity scale. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and McNemar's test. Patients receiving vincristine in combination with azole treatment experienced significantly more constipation and peripheral neurotoxicity (P = 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). Vincristine-induced CNS toxicity was only seen in patients (30%) receiving vincristine in combination with azole treatment. Vincristine toxicity is significantly enhanced when combined with azole treatment and can even be life threatening. Therefore, we advise avoidance of the combination of azole and vincristine treatments in patients with ALL.

Treatment with cisplatin-containing chemotherapy regimens causes hearing loss in 40–60% of cancer patients. It has been suggested that genetic variants in the genes encoding thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) and catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) can predict the development of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity and may explain interindividual variability in sensitivity to cisplatin-induced hearing loss. Two recently published studies however, sought to validate these findings and showed inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of polymorphisms in the TPMT and COMT genes in cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Therefore we investigated two independent cohorts of 110 Dutch and 38 Spanish patients with osteosarcoma and performed a meta-analysis including all previously published studies resulting in a total population of 664 patients with cancer. With this largest meta-analysis performed to date, we show that the influence of TPMT and COMT on the development of cisplatin-induced hearing loss may be less important than previously suggested.