Coagulation abnormalities in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: assessing the impact of L-asparaginase therapy in Ghana

Background: Although the rate of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is increasing in Africa, there is a dearth of information on the disease and the dynamics of hemostatic parameters with therapy. Methods: In this case-control study, we evaluated variations in the level/activity of selected coagulation parameters among cALL in Ghana and healthy controls stratified by stage of therapeutic management. Results: In all, the research recruited 104 participants comprising 26 cALL cases and 78 healthy controls. The cALL group had significantly higher prothrombin time (PT) (p = 0.001), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) (p < 0.0001) and D-dimers (p = 0.001) but lower platelet (PLT) count, protein C (PC) (p < 0.0001), protein S (PS) (p < 0.0001) and antithrombin III (ATIII) (p < 0.0001) compared to controls. Compared to the healthy controls, activity of PC was lower during induction (p < 0.0001), consolidation (p = 0.005) and maintenance phases of chemotherapy (p = 0.012) while activities of PS and ATIII were lower at both induction (p < 0.0001, p = 0.006) and consolidation (p < 0.0001, p = 0.018) phases of chemotherapy. Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence in the context of Africa and corroborates previous reports that cALL could result in a state of hypercoagulability, possibly leading to a high risk of thrombosis and thromboembolic complications. This possibly increased risk is not limited to the induction phase but also the consolidation phase.