Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in a Jehovah’s Witness: a management dilemma

Abstract

Jehovah’s witnesses represent a unique group of patients whose religious beliefs prohibit receiving transfusion of all blood products. Since most chemotherapeutic regimens used to treat acute leukemia are myelosuppressive and often resulting in potentially life threatening pancytopenia, their refusal of blood products poses a challenge to clinicians. We report a case of a Jehovah’s Witness patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who was successfully treated with non-myelosuppressive chemotherapy for both first and second remission and achieved complete remissions both times without transfusion of blood products.

Keywords:

• Jehovah’s witness
• Chemotherapy
• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia