Serum ferritin in hematologic malignancies.

Serum ferritin was measured in a variety of hematologic malignancies at presentation, in remission following therapy, and in relapse. Ferritin was strikingly increased in all acute leukemias at presentation and in relapse, in the blastic crisis of CML, and in smouldering leukemia. Remission in both ALL and ANLL was associated with a reduction of serum ferritin, and this normalization was a function of remission duration. In the malignant lymphomas serum ferritin was related to tumor histology. Highest levels were found in Hodgkin disease and histiocytic lymphoma, normal levels in lymphocytic lymphoma, and intermediate levels in mixed histiocytic-lymphocytic lymphoma. In all cases, remission was associated with normalization of serum ferritin. These correlations suggest that serum ferritin measurements may be of clinical usefulness in the initial evaluation and in the assessment of response to therapy in patients with acute leukemia and malignant lymphoma.