title: Hemophagocytosis and acute monoblastic leukemia.
abstract: A 16-month-old girl presented with hepatosplenomegaly and pancytopenia. Bone marrow aspiration showed a florid increase in macrophages with marked hemophagocytosis. She subsequently improved spontaneously with no therapeutic intervention, but 2 months later presented with frank acute monoblastic leukemia. This case illustrates the difficulties in classifying malignancies of the monocyte-macrophage lineage and how hemophagocytosis can be the presenting feature of a range of diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, Scotland.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: O B
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Eden
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007948:Leukemia, Monocytic, Acute / Q000276:immunology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000276:immunology