Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and leukoerythroblastic blood film heralding bone marrow metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma

Bone Metastasis From Gastric Adenocarcinoma-What Are the Risk Factors and Associated Survival? A Large Comprehensive Population-Based Cohort Study

Background

While bone metastasis is not common in gastric adenocarcinoma (GaC), it can have important impacts on prognosis. This large cohort study aimed at exploring factors associated with bone metastasis in GaC and investigating the time-dependent cumulative mortalities and prognostic factors in GaC patients with bone metastasis at the population level.

Methods

Data on patients with GaC diagnosed in 2010–2016 were retrieved from a large population-based database. We explored factors associated with bone metastasis using the multivariable-adjusted logistic model. We then calculated the time-dependent cancer-specific mortalities in GaC patients with bone metastasis using the cumulative incidence function and compared mortalities across subgroups using Gray’s test. We further assessed factors associated with mortality using the multivariable-adjusted Fine–Gray subdistribution hazard model.

Results

Together 11,072 eligible patients with metastatic GaC were enrolled, which comprised 1,511 (14%) people with bone metastasis and 9,561 (86%) with other metastasis, encompassing 6,999 person-years of follow-up. Bone metastasis was more frequently detected in 2014 or later, in younger patients, in patients with gastric cardia cancers, in people with signet-ring cell carcinoma, and in those with poorly differentiated/undifferentiated cancers; it was less commonly observed in black patients. Bone metastasis was associated with more frequent brain and lung metastases. The median survival of patients with bone metastasis was 4 months; the 6-month and 3-year cancer-specific cumulative mortalities were 56% and 85%, respectively. In patients receiving chemotherapy, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, patients with gastric antrum/pylorus cancers, and those with positive lymph nodes had higher mortality risks, while those undergoing resection had lower mortality hazards.

Conclusion

In GaC patients, bone metastasis was associated with various clinicopathologic factors including age, ethnicity, tumor location, histology, differentiation, and metastasis to other sites. Patients with bone metastasis had poor prognosis which was associated with ethnicity, tumor location, lymph node involvement, and treatment. Our findings provide important hints for tailed patient management and for further mechanistic investigations.

[Analysis of therapy-relevant receptors in bone marrow carcinosis : Comparison of pathological and clinical parameters]

BACKGROUND

Bone marrow carcinosis is a sign of advanced tumor stage with nonspecific clinical and hematological symptoms. Diagnosis is based on bone marrow biopsy and histopathology, but biopsies are not part of the standard work-up in oncological diseases and data on the correlation between clinical presentation and pathological findings are sparse.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In a retrospective single-center study, data from 20 tumor patients with bone marrow carcinosis were analyzed. Bone marrow biopsies were re-evaluated regarding quantity of tumor cells, fibrosis/necrosis, and bone changes. Immunohistochemistry of potential therapy-relevant receptors and PD-L1 was performed.

RESULTS

The median age in these 20 patients (13 women, 7 men) was 65 years. The most frequent diagnoses were breast (n = 8) and lung cancer (n = 5). Anemia (94% of patients), thrombocytopenia (72%), and elevated LDH (83%) were frequent findings. The degree of bone marrow infiltration was highly variable and accounted for between 1 and 95% of biopsy space. Significant bone remodeling was present in 14/20 biopsies. No correlation could be found between histological and radiological findings. Treated patients showed some clinical and biochemical improvement, but the overall survival was poor (median 4.5 months, range < 0.5 to 21.5 months).

DISCUSSION

Anemia and thrombocytopenia are frequently associated with bone marrow carcinosis, but are nonspecific. The extent of tumor cell infiltration and osteolytic/osteoblastic changes did not correlate with radiological findings. Therapy-relevant target factors should be evaluated, but therapeutic options are often limited and the prognosis is bad.

The role of chemotherapy in gastric cancer-related microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia

We report a case of a previously well 46-year-old man who presented with microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia (MAHA) of unknown origin. After extensive investigations, he was diagnosed with cancer-related microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia (CR-MAHA) secondary to gastric adenocarcinoma. Initial treatment with plasmapheresis was ineffective, but the patient's haematological abnormalities improved markedly with chemotherapy directed against his gastric cancer. Our case amplifies previous experience of gastric cancer-associated MAHA which responded to treatment with chemotherapy. We review current understanding of the proposed pathophysiology of CR-MAHA and conclude that this condition is ideally treated with chemotherapy.

Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia associated with metastatic breast cancer: case report and literature review

INTRODUCTION

Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA) is a mechanical hemolytic anemia characterized by the emergence of fragmented red cells in peripheral blood. Here, we report a case of breast cancer associated with cancer-related (CR)-MAHA along with a literature review.

CASE DESCRIPTION

The patient was a 54-year-old woman who made an emergency visit to our hospital because of low back pain, shoulder pain, visual impairment, and anemia. She was diagnosed with stage IV, ER-positive, PgR-positive, HER2-negative left breast cancer (invasive lobular carcinoma), with left axillary adenopathy, metastasis to the soft tissue of the orbital region, multiple bone metastases, pleural dissemination, and metastasis to the stomach and para-aortic lymph nodes. Chemotherapy was initiated successfully; tumor marker levels normalized and the visceral metastases almost disappeared. Hormone therapy was administered for maintenance. Two and a half years later, rapid elevation in tumor marker levels and severe anemia were noted, and fragmented red cells and poikilocytes emerged in the peripheral blood. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography and bone scintigraphy revealed multiple bone metastases, but no evidence of visceral metastasis. CR-MAHA associated with multiple bone metastases was diagnosed, and Paclitaxel chemotherapy was initiated with frequent blood transfusions. Her anemia gradually improved, with a decrease in tumor marker levels and the number of blood transfusions. Three months later, tumor marker levels increased again. Because the anemia was also exacerbated, chemotherapy was changed to eribulin. Tumor marker levels temporally decreased, and the anemia tended to improve, but 3 months later, the levels were elevated again and the anemia was exacerbated. A switch to another regimen was planned, but best supportive care was chosen instead because of rapid deterioration of liver function. The patient died a month later.

DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION

CR-MAHA is thought to have a different pathologic mechanism from TTP or HUS. Although CR-MAHA is a clinical condition associated with a very poor prognosis, we consider it controllable for long period by rapid introduction of chemotherapy in many cases.

CONCLUSIONS

CR-MAHA is a nearly oncologic emergency that medical oncologists need to be able to recognize even though it rarely occurs in breast cancer.

Cisplatin and short-term 5-Fluorouracil infusion for paraneoplastic microangiopathic hemolytic anemia in gastric cancer: a case report and review of the literature

Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome accompanying adenocarcinoma of the stomach. We report on a patient presenting with anemia due to a combination of severe hemolysis and tumour bleeding, where the combination of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil in a short course infusional regimen led to a complete response of the hematologic abnormalities in the first line setting. Relapse was successfully treated with second line docetaxel; however the response was relatively short-lived. Overall survival was 16 months from diagnosis, which compares favourably to the survival of other reported cases. The chemotherapy regimens used in previously reported similar cases are reviewed. We suggest that a regimen based on bolus 5-fluorouracil, possibly with a platinum, should be investigated as a possible regimen of choice.

Cancer-related microangiopathic hemolytic anemia: clinical and laboratory features in 168 reported cases

Cancer-related microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (CR-MAHA) is a paraneoplastic syndrome characterized by Coombs-negative hemolytic anemia with schistocytes and thrombocytopenia. We reviewed and analyzed all cases of CR-MAHA reported since 1979 (the time of the last published review on this topic) according to predefined criteria. We found 154 cases associated with solid cancer and 14 with lymphoma. Among the solid cancers, gastric, breast, prostate, lung, and cancer of unknown primary (CUP) were most common; 91.8% of cancers were metastatic, and in 19.4% of solid cancers CR-MAHA did not occur until recurrence of cancer. Lymphoma cases included Hodgkin disease, angiotropic lymphoma, diffuse large cell lymphoma, and myeloma. Evaluation of the clinical and laboratory findings revealed that only a minority of cases presented with the features of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) or atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), with the exception of prostate cancer, where aHUS was a common presentation. Compared to hereditary or immune TTP or aHUS, disseminated intravascular coagulation and pulmonary symptoms were more common in CR-MAHA. Plasma exchange or fresh frozen plasma was rarely effective except in prostate cancer patients with aHUS. CR-MAHA responded to antitumor therapy in many patients with gastric, breast, lung, and CUP cancers. These patients had a superior survival compared to patients without chemotherapy. Compared to the prognosis of patients with metastatic cancer without CR-MAHA, the prognosis of CR-MAHA patients was greatly inferior. There is evidence that some cases of CR-MAHA in lymphoma are immune mediated.