High plasma D-dimer level is a poor prognostic factor for patients with waldenström macroglobulinemia

Abstract

Waldenström Macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma with great heterogeneity, and data on the role of D-dimer in the progression of WM are limited. We retrospectively searched medical records for 110 newly diagnosed WM patients who were admitted to the department of hematology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2009 to December 2018. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Characteristics associated with elevated D-dimer level in WM patients were high serum beta-2 macroglobulin, elevated serum lactic dehydrogenase, cytogenetic abnormalities and late stage of the international stage system of WM. Patients with D-dimer >0.55 mg/L had worse OS and PFS. In conclusion, high level of D-dimer was associated with poor survival and acted as a negative predictor for untreated WM patients.

Keywords:

• Waldenström Macroglobulinemia
• D-dimer
• prognosis
• progression-free survival
• overall survival

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the members of the hematology department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University for the continuous and comprehensive support of our efforts to conduct this research.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [81600130, 81770166, 81720108002], Jiangsu Province’s Medical Elite Program [ZDRCA2016022], Project of National Key Clinical Specialty, National Science & Technology Pillar Program [2014BAI09B12], Jiangsu Provincial Special Program of Medical Science [BE2017751] and National Science and Technology Major Project [2018ZX09734007], Jiangsu Province’s Young Medical Talents Program [QNRC2016683].