Acute myelogenous leukemia concurrent with untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia

We report a case of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) concurrent with untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). An 84-year-old Japanese man was admitted to the Chihaya Hospital with persistent high-grade fever. Morphologic observation of peripheral blood and bone marrow smears revealed a proliferation of blasts and lymphocytosis with small and mature phenotypes. Immunophenotyping of the blast cells revealed CD 13(+), CD33(+), CD34(+), and HLA-DRI, and that of the lymphocytes revealed CD5(+), CD19(+), CD20(+), and lambda(+) on the cell surface. The peripheral lymphocytes revealed an IgH gene rearrangement. Chromosome analysis of 20 metaphase cells from bone marrow showed numerous abnormalities, containing +8,+11,+21. The patient's disease was diagnosed as AML with trilineage dysplasia concurrent with CLL. The simultaneous occurrence of AML and CLL is extremely rare but should not be overlooked as a possible underlying cause of lymphocyte abnormalities in AML patients. Int J Hematol. 2002;75:187-190. (C)2002 The Japanese Society of Hematology.