FREQUENCY OF TUMOR LYSIS SYNDROME IN PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES

Abstract

Objective: To ascertain the incidence of tumor lysis disorder (TLS) and associated risk factors among individuals with hematological malignancies

Study Design: Cross-sectional study

Study setting and duration: Medicine department - Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan(May 2025– July 2025).

Methodology: 145 patients with diagnosed hematological malignancies that were between the ages of 18-65 years old, using non-probability consecutive sampling. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS (version 25). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the demographic, disease, and treatment characteristics of patients (mean ± SD for continuous variables and frequency for categorical variables). Chi-square tests and an independent sample t-test were done to assess significant relationships using a p-value ≤ 0.05 as statistically significant.

Results: The mean age of study participants was 43.10 ± 14.11. Overall (16.6%), 24 of 145 participants experienced TLS. Participants who experienced TLS were more likely to have acute lymphoid leukemias or chronic myeloid leukemias (p-value < 0.001). Participants experiencing TLS were found to correlate positively with receiving an advanced stage disease and use of chemotherapy (p-value < 0.001). Participants with TLS had a longer duration of disease before the finding of TLS but had a shorter duration of treatment for his/her hematological malignancy compared to patients without TLS (p-value < 0.001).

Conclusion: Tumor lysis syndrome occurs most frequently in patients diagnosed with hematologic cancers who are being treated with either chemotherapy or have reached the later stages of their illness.