title: Hand-mirror cell leukemia. Report of nine cases and a review of the literature.
abstract: In order to determine the significance of 40% or more leukemic cells in hand-mirror configuration in the bone marrow (hand-mirror cell leukemia), eight of 34 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and one of 17 cases of acute myeloblastic leukemia were collected from a six-year period. Five of the eight patients who had acute lymphoblastic leukemia were children; the remaining patients were less than 40 years of age. Females outnumbered males two to one. Cytochemical and electron-microscopic studies were performed for three cases. The clinical presentations were similar to those of patients without the hand-mirror cell variant, except for a high incidence of central nervous system relapses (over 50% of patients) despite prophylaxis. When compared with patients with acute leukemia in equivalent age and morphologic categories, adults with the hand-mirror cell variant had a similar, but not better, prognosis, while children with the variant had a poorer prognosis. Additional studies must be performed to determine whether the hand-mirror cell variant warrants separation from other forms of acute leukemia.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies