Publication Date:
2013-11-15
Description:
Background Aggressive natural killer leukemia (ANKL), previously being classified as large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia or malignant histiocytosis, is a rare subset neoplasm with high aggressive clinical course. Until now, apart from clinical feature, the frequent chromosome aberrations, somatic genes mutations, signal pathway and the optimal treatment regimen are still poor understood. Patient and Methods A retrospective analysis was performed upon review of clinical database, including additional immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining and integrated mutation analysis on reserved samples. Twelve samples of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma-nasal type (ENKL-NT) were used in IHC analysis for control. Results A total of 26 cases were collected during 2001 to 2013, including 17 males and 9 females, median age of 28 years old (range 4-76 years old). Most patients presented with acute-onset high swinging fever (n=26), deteriorating jaundice (n=19) and pancytopenia (n=22) at diagnosis. The organ most frequently involved organs were bone marrow (n=25), liver (n=23), spleen (n=22) and gastrointestinal (n=6). Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) was present in 15 out of 26 patients, significantly associated with liver involvement and jaundice (p
Print ISSN:
0006-4971
Electronic ISSN:
1528-0020
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine