title: Disappearing myelodysplastic syndrome-associated hemolytic anemia in leukemic transformation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Here we report 2 rare cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) complicated with hemolytic anemia limited to the myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) stage, and disappearing in leukemic transformation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 66-year-old man with MDS-RAEB-2 was admitted to hospital for severe anemia with increased reticulocyte counts. Hemolytic anemia was suspected, and it was ameliorated by methylprednisolone pulse therapy. Although anemia grew worse when steroids were tapered off, later improvement coincided with an increase in myeloblasts in the peripheral blood, i.e. with leukemic transformation. In another case, a 68-year-old man was admitted to hospital when laboratory findings showed a white blood cell count of 24,800/microl with increased myeloblasts (62.5%), leading to the diagnosis of AML with multilineage dysplasia. Following a decrease in blasts due to anti-cancer drugs, supporting the MDS-RAEB-2 status, severe anemia with increased reticulocytes and positive direct antiglobulin test was diagnosed, suggesting the existence of autoimmune hemolytic anemia, which was then ameliorated by steroid therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The simultaneous loss of autoimmunity and leukemic cell expansion observed in our cases may possibly suggest a common underlying mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo Prefectural Tsukaguchi Hospital, Hyogo, Japan. rtabata@hp.pref.hyogo.jp
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: Chiharu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: Konosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Omori
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000744:Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D015551:Autoimmunity; D002452:Cell Count; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D042381:Granulocyte Precursor Cells / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D012156:Reticulocytes / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D008775:Methylprednisolone