Chemotherapy for transient myeloproliferative disorder in a premature infant with Down syndrome.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Congenital leukaemia is the most common leukaemia in newborns with Down syndrome, but it must be differentiated from transient myeloproliferative disorder. The majority of transient myeloproliferative disorders regresses spontaneously during the first few months of life. Data on the treatment outcomes of transient myeloproliferative disorder in premature infants are very rare. We present a case of a very-low-birthweight (1350 g) premature newborn with Down syndrome, diagnosed as having transient myeloproliferative disorder and treated with chemotherapy due to recurrent hyperleucocytosis (WBC: 148 000/mm³) after repeated exchange transfusions. CASE SUMMARY: The patient's WBC count regressed to 24 000/mm(3) without treatment. During the follow-up period, the WBC increased on consecutive days and reached 95 000/mm(3) on the 16th day of the hospitalization. Therefore, chemotherapy was started. Single-agent cytarabine infusion was administered over five days. After the therapy, the WBC count stayed stable and remained steady in the range 4600-13600/mm(3) in the second month. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: A very-low-birthweight infant with Down syndrome and recurrent transient myeloproliferative disorder was successfully treated with cytarabine.

Toxicological evaluations of some brominated biphenyls.

Extensive toxicological studies were carried out to define the probable hazard of octabromobiphenyl (OBB) to workers, users, and the environment. OBB had low acute toxicity in mammals and birds by various routes of administration. It was essentially non-irritating to rabbit eyes, non-irritating to human skin and caused only mild skin irritation and no sensitization in the guinea pig. OBB caused equivocal effects in the rat fetus. OBB was stored in the body fat of rats and caused liver enlargement at high single doses or low repeated doses. The studies indicate probable low safety factors in application and use and probable bioaccumulation. Hexabromobiphenyl (HBB) was more acutely toxic than OBB by skin absorption in the rabbit and caused liver enlargement at lower single doses.