March 2025, Volume 3, Issue 3

Author

Prachi Singh, Ankit Pachauri and Nishant Verma

Abstract

Background: Pneumonia is a major cause of death during chemotherapy for acute leukemia. Here we are presenting the correlation of baseline characteristics and pneumonia in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) which affect the overall outcome of patients with ALL. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study for one year and 6 months duration in which 77 pediatric patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) who underwent chemotherapy in a tertiary care hospital. Result: Twenty-eight of the 77 pediatric participants in the trial got pneumonia while receiving therapy. There were 41 children (53.2%) older than five years, and 36 (46.7%) less than five. 18% (14/77) of the children were T ALL, and 82% (63/77) were B ALL. The male to female ratio was 5.4:1. Of the patients, 75% (58/77) were classified as high risk and 25% (19/77) as low risk. CNS/testicular involvement occurred at some stage during treatment in 15% (12/77). Of the 37 pneumonia cases, fever was the most common presenting symptom (97%) followed by respiratory distress (60%) and ANC<500 (75%). Cough was the less frequent presenting complaint. Thus, radiographic criteria were taken into consideration in order to diagnose pneumonia. Conclusion: The risk factors for development of pneumonia in children with ALL were age<5yr, baseline TLC of >50,000, induction phase of chemotherapy and these were statistically significant in our study.