Peripheral acute leukemia: high peripheral but low-marrow blast count.
We report five patients who had greater than 30% peripheral blasts and less than 30% marrow blasts. By the current standards these cases would be classified as myelodysplastic syndrome. Four of five patients progressed to acute leukemia within approximately 1 1/2 months of developing greater than 30% peripheral blasts. Two of these four patients had evidence of acute leukemia by criteria other than marrow involvement at the time of presentation: one patient had evidence of multifocal dermal involvement; and the other patient had a cytogenetic abnormality, t(8;21), found predominantly in acute leukemia. The fifth patient developed acute leukemia 2 years after initial presentation with greater than 30% peripheral blasts. Although our series of patients is small, it does suggest that patients who have greater than 30% peripheral blasts should be considered an acute leukemia, even with less than 30% marrow blasts.
Cason
J D
JD
Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
Trujillo
J M
JM
Estey
E H
EH
Huh
Y O
YO
Freireich
E J
EJ
Stass
S A
SA
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001752:Blast Crisis / Q000473:pathology*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000473:pathology
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents