Onkológia 1/2020

Selected epidemiological aspects of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in Slovakia: results from the cross-sectional study

Objective: Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is one of the most common types of leukaemia in the Western world (1). The aim of the cross-sectional study was to identify the distribution of newly diagnosed CLL patients according to the presence of chromosome aberrations and mutations TP53 in selected workplaces and to describe the treatment breakdown in prevalent CLL patients. Material and methods: During the months of August and September 2018, a cross-sectional study on CLL epidemiology was carried out at 7 Slovak workplaces, using qualitative and quantitative research. The results were statistically processed together for all workplaces together as well as for individual workplaces in the Excel program. Results: In 2017, newly diagnosed 224 patients with CLL were evaluated in outpatient clinics, of whom 86% of patients underwent chromosome aberrations and mutations TP53 diagnostics, of which 39.72% had deletion of 13q14, 11.91% - trisomy 12, deletion 11q22q23

• 10.74%, deletion of 17p13 - 9.98% and mutation of TP53 without deletion of 17p13 - 2.45% of patients. At the time of the evaluation (2018), 957 patients with CLL were monitored or treated at the seven centers. The proportion of patients treated with BCR inhibitor from the number of treated CLL patients varied from 3.7% to 16.8%, averaging 10.18% of patients (SE 1.51%, median 10.16%; SD 3.99%). The majority of patients were without or before the treatment in the first line (36.47%), the least patients were in the fifth line (0.56%) with a gradual decrease of the number of patients following increasing treatment line. Conclusion: The research covered more than 50% of all CLL patients, at least 80% of newly-diagnosed patients were examined for the presence of chromosome aberrations and mutations TP53, with the most frequent 13q14 deletion. About 10% of CLL patients were treated with BCR inhibitor. The proportion of patients without treatment or prior to initiation of treatment was probably influenced by the choice of sites, as patients eligible for treatment are transferred to the centers. This research and analysis had limitations for the inability to assess mortality due to data unavailability.

Keywords: chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, chromosome aberrations and mutation TP53, incidence, prevalence, BCR inhibitor