Very late recurrences of leukemia: why does leukemia awake after many years of dormancy?
We report a heterogeneous group of very late recurrences of leukemia occurring more than 10 years after initial treatment including 2 cases of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) which recurred after more than 20 years of remission, 2 cases of donor cell leukemia which developed more than 10 years after allograft for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and high risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and 2 cases of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) relapsing 13 and 17 years after allograft. Case descriptions are followed by a discussion regarding possible mechanisms leading to leukemia recurrence and a review of the literature.
Division of Hematology and Oncology, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.
Maxim
M
Norkin
Joseph P
JP
Uberti
Charles A
CA
Schiffer
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D012008:Recurrence; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation