Case of the Month #24 - respiratory failure

Published 01/02/2022

How is remission measured?

A bone marrow aspirate is taken after induction therapy. Remission is classified as1:

CR – Complete response: less than 5% blasts on bone marrow aspirate and return to normal blood counts.CRi – Incomplete peripheral response: Less than 5% blasts on bone marrow aspirate but blood counts have not returned to normal.
PR – Partial response: 5-15% blasts remain on bone marrow aspirate.
NR – No response: >15% blasts on bone marrow aspirate.

Due to the incomplete response, the haematology team recommended a haematological stem cell transplant. 29 days ago, the patient underwent an autologous bone marrow transplant. Due to his fitness and age, he was prepared with high dose cytotoxic therapy ‘conditioning’, which consisted of chemotherapy, total body irradiation, and anti-lymphocyte antibodies. He was started on routine trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis and immunosuppression.