Synchronous development of KIT positive acute myeloid leukemia in a patient with gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
We report a case of synchronous occurrence of KIT-positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). A 63-year-old woman was hospitalized for dizziness, and abdominal computed tomography revealed an exophytic gastric mass and hepatic metastasis. The patient was diagnosed with GIST and was administered imatinib (400 mg/day) for the metastatic unresectable tumor. After 2 weeks of imatinib treatment, the patient developed pancytopenia, which persisted even after the drug was discontinued, thereby necessitating bone marrow biopsy. Biopsy examination indicated AML, and karyotyping revealed a complex karyotype. We did not observe point mutations at residues D816 and N822 of KIT. Therefore, the patient received standard induction chemotherapy, but on the 18(th) day after completion of chemotherapy, she died of septic shock and multi-organ failure. Since KIT plays an important role in both GIST and AML, we consider that both these malignancies may have been associated with each other.
Department of Internal Medicine, St. Vincent Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Suwon, Korea.
Young-Bin
YB
Joo
Seung Hwa
SH
Choi
Seung Kyoung
SK
Kim
Byungyong
B
Shim
Myung-Shin
MS
Kim
Yoo-Jin
YJ
Kim