Haematological Malignancy Flashcards
What mutations cause myeloid malignancies?
Mutations that affect the myeloid lineage in haematopoiesis
What mutations cause lymphoid malignancies?
Mutations that affect the lympoid lineage in haematopoiesis
What is the pathological cause of acute myeloid leukaemia?
The myeloid progenitor produces an excess of undifferentiated blast cells
What is the pathological cause of myeloproliferative disorders?
An overproduction of differentiated myeloid cells (neutrophils, eosinophils etc).
What is the pathological cause of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia?
Proliferation with a block to differentiation in the lymphoid progenitor
What is the main difference between leukaemia and lymphoma?
Leukaemia- commonly presents in blood and bone marrow
Lymphoma- commonly presents in the lymphoid tissue
What are the characteristics of acute leukaemia?
Leukaemic cells do not differentiate
Bone marrow failure
Rapidly fatal if untreated
Potentially curable
What are the characteristics of chronic leukaemia?
Leukaemic cells retain ability to differentiate
Proliferation without bone marrow failure
Survival for a few years
Potentially curable with modern therapy
What are the causes of localised, painful lymphadenopathy?
Bacterial infection in draining site
What are the causes of localised, painless lymphadenopathy?
Rare infections, catch scratch fever, TB
Metastatic carcinoma from draining site- hard
Lymphoma-rubbery
Reactive, no cause identified
What are the causes of generalised, painful lymphadenopathy?
Viral infections ie EBV, HIV, CMV
What are the causes of generalised, painless lymphadenopathy?
Lymphoma Leukaemia Connective tissue diseases, sarcoidosis Reactive, no cause identified Drugs
What are the possible presentations of lymphoma?
Nodal disease- lymphadenopathy (>90% of HL presents with nodal disease, 60% of NHL)
Extranodal disease (40% NHL present with an extranodal component +/- nodal involvement)
Systemic symptoms- fever, drenching sweats, loss of weight (10% in 6 months), pruritis, fatigue
