CHARACTERISTICS OF HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES IN SOUTHWEST YEMEN

Abstract

There is paucity of information on patterns of hematological malignancies ( HM) in Taiz and IBB governorates situated in the south west of the country . This study was conducted to determine the distribution of various HM among patients who have underwent bone marrow aspiration, in Taiz and Ibb governorates Yemen. Methods: Retrospective descriptive study of patients diagnosed with HM between September 2016 and October 2020 in the South West Yemen. The FAB (French-American-British) classication system , immunophenotyping ,BCR ABL and Jack 2 gene mutations have been taken into account in the analysis of the cases . Results:In this study, a total of 355 cases of HM were registered between September 2016 and October 2020 .Among the 355 registered cases of HM, 50.8 % were males and 49.2 % were females, with a male to female ratio of 1.1 : 1 . By contrast, a female predominance was observed in the case of multiple myeloma (MM), and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) . Acute leukemias were diagnosed in 45.9 % the cases ,followed by chronic leukemias diagnosed in 26.2 % .acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was the rst most common diagnosis seen in 23.6% of H.M cases ,followed by acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML ) seen in 22.2%,chronic myeloid leukemia (CML )seen in 14.9% and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) seen in 11.2 % of H.M respectively .MPN were seen in 16.3 % cases ,MDS seen in 7.1 % ,multiple myeloma seen in 1.8 % .Lymphoma cases encountered in this study were incidentally diagnosed during staging for lymphoma and seen in 2.8 % cases .The majority of HM cases have been observed among patients aged more than 41y (51.5 %) followed by patients aged less than 41 years (48.3 %) of HM . Acute leukemias were the most common HM In adolescents and young adults . Conclusions: This study provided for the rst time the pattern and distribution of HM according to gender , age and presentation symptoms in South West Yemen .Our ndings are consistent with other studies done in Yemen and neighboring countries and highlight the needs to establish a national cancer registry as a rst step in cancer control in Yemen .