Journal of Clinical Pathology 2007;60:562-564; doi:10.1136/jcp.2005.033266
Copyright © 2007 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Association of Clinical Pathologists.
Therapy-related, mixed-lineage leukaemia translocation-positive, monoblastic myeloid sarcoma of the uterus
Vinod Pullarkat1,
Leslie Veliz2,
Karen Chang3,
Ann Mohrbacher4,
Anna Lizza Teotico1,
Stephen J Forman1,
Marilyn L Slovak2
1 Division of Haematology and Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, USA
2 Department of Cytogenetics, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California, USA
3 Division of Pathology, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California, USA
4 Division of Haematology, Department of Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
Correspondence to:
Dr V Pullarkat
Division of Haematology, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 East Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; vpullarkat{at}coh.org
ABSTRACT
Myeloid sarcomas are tumour masses of myeloid leukaemic cells at extramedullary sites. These tumours can, on occasion, occur without concurrent or antecedent leukaemia. Myeloid sarcomas have been described at unusual locations including the female genital tract. An unusual case of therapy-related acute myeloid leukaemia (t-AML) presenting as isolated monoblastic myeloid sarcoma of the uterus in a patient who had received adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer is presented. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation analysis performed on paraffin-wax-embedded tumour tissue revealed a mixed-lineage leukaemia (MLL) gene rearrangement, supporting the association of this malignancy with prior chemotherapy. This case illustrates that t-AML can rarely present as isolated extramedullary tumours, and the detection of specific chromosomal abnormalities in these myeloid sarcomas can be useful for risk assessment and guiding definitive therapy.
Abbreviations: AML, acute myeloid leukaemia; FISH, fluorescence in situ hybridisation; MLL, mixed lineage leukaemia; RT, room temperature; t-AML, therapy-related acute myeloid leukaemia
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Copyright © 2007 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Association of Clinical Pathologists.