The incidence of hemorrhage as terminal event in leukemic patients has significantly decreased since the introduction of platelet transfusions.”3 In o u r study fatal bleeding
occurred in only 7% of the patients and was mainly related to tumor factors. Thrombocytopenia resulting from myelosuppressive ther- apy occurred in only 11 patients in this study. Infarction occurred more frequently than hemorrhage (11yo)and was mainly caused by tumor except in the patients dying of myo- cardial infarction. Arteriosclerosis was the major cause of this complication.
Finally, in a group of 83 patients with ad- vanced disease, a specific cause of death could not be determined. All these patients had ex- treme degrees of debilitation, malnutrition, and electrolytic imbalance which led to death. At postmortem examination, their malignancy was disseminated to almost all vital organs and consequently they were considered as dying of “carcinomatosis.”
From the results of this study it can be con- cluded that in 71% of the 816 patients, the underlying tumor precipitated the cause of death. It appears appropriate to state that