Occurrence of hepatitis and hepatitis B surface antigen in adult patients with acute leukemia.

Fifty-eight adult patients with acute leukemia were screened at the onset of the disease for hepatitis B antigen (HBSAg) in the serum, and during the course of the disease for the development of hepatitis B. One patient had a positive test for HBSAg by the radioimmunoassay technique only at the time leukemia was diagnosed; this patient had received transfusions some years before. In six patients icteric hepatitis B developed; five recovered completely and one died of leukemia during the course of hepatitis. All patients in whom hepatitis developed had received transfusions as a part of supportive therapy for leukemia. The hepatitis risk for patients who received transfusions of blood found to be negative for HBSAg by counterimmunoelectrophoresis was 0.26 percent per unit of blood administered.