The Incidence of Gastrointestinal Complications in Patients with Leukemia During Chemotherapy.

Partovi simin, Banihashem a.,Farshidi f.,Banihashemi amir

ABSTRACT :

The Incidence of Gastrointestinal Complications in patients with Leukemia during Chemotherapy.

Partovi simin, Banihashem a.,Farshidi f.,Banihashemi amir

Introduction: Acute leukemia is a common malignancy in childhood that is

now curable with chemotherapy.Chemotherapeutic agents have numerous complications. We studied the incidence of GI complications and its relations

with specific phases of treatment.

Material & methods: In a cross-sectional study, we examined 75 patients

with acute leukemias who were under chemotherapy (oct 2003-aug 2004) in

Sheikh Hospital ,Mashad University of Medical Sciences,IR Iran. These patients

had at least one GI complication caused by chemotherapy. The data was

collected using a questionaire and the statistical analysis was performed.

Results: In 75 patients the mean age was 7.3 years with the most age distribution between 5-7 years. Of them 23 were female and 52 male. The types of leukemia in these patients were: 62 patients acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL)

The B-cell variety, 3 cases T-cell ALL and 10 Acute myeloblastic leukemia

(AML). The most common complication was oral ulcers in 42 cases. Other complications were : nausea & vomiting 35, diarrhea 20 who had negative cultures, odinophagia 19 , candidiasis 16. Abdominal pain 12 , abdominal distension 10, perianal fistula & ulcers 8 , constipation 5,hematochezia 3, melena 2 and dysphagia 1 case. Perioral ulcers,diarrhea, nausea and vomiting and oral aphthous ulcers were notably more common during the first phase of acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment. Typhlitis was not seen in our patients.

Conclusion: The most common GI complications of chemotherapy in childhood leukemia were : oral ulcers ,nausea & vomiting ,diarrhea ,odinophagia,candidiasis, abdominal pain,abdominal distension ,perianal fistula & ulcers,constipation hematochezia melena and dysphagia.

Keywords: leukemia , children, chemotherapy,GI complications