title: Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia masquerading as persistent asymptomatic bone marrow necrosis.
abstract: Bone marrow necrosis is an uncommon histologic finding of malignant diseases at presentation. Clinically it is characterized by pyrexia and severe bone pain, and heralds a poor prognosis if untreated. We report an unusual patient with asymptomatic bone marrow necrosis persisting for 10 mths, a hitherto undescribed length of time for this condition. The diagnosis of Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia was finally made after multiple bone marrow biopsies.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Y L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pollock
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lie
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D003582:Cytogenetics; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D009336:Necrosis; D010677:Philadelphia Chromosome; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*