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Block of red blood cell maturation in acute erythroid leukemia

Block of red blood cell maturation in acute erythroid leukemia
#00013712
Author: . Sabine Blum and Anne Angelillo-Scherrer
Category: Myeloid Neoplasms and acute leukemia (WHO 2016) > Acute Myeloid Leukemia > AML not otherwise specified > Acute erythroid leukemia
Published Date: 09/07/2012

A 47-year-old man with a 5-year history of Jak-2-positive polycythemia vera, previously treated with phlebotomy and hydroxyurea, presented with bone pain, fever, and night sweats. Physical examination was normal. Laboratory examination revealed pancytopenia (hemoglobin 78 g/L, leukocytes 2.5 × 109/L, platelets 30 × 109/L) and 9% myeloblasts. The myeloblasts coexpressed CD34/CD33/CD13/CD117/HLA-DR and the bone marrow biopsy showed glycophorin A and CD117 positive blasts. Lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, and ?-glutamyltransferase were elevated; bilirubin and transaminases were normal. . Numerous erythroblasts were seen (top panel) in the peripheral smear (240/100 leukocytes), whereas the reticulocyte count was reduced (20.8 × 109/L). High fluorescence reticulocytes (HFRs), the less differentiated reticulocytes with the highest RNA content, were only 0.6%, middle fluorescence reticulocytes (MFRs) were 11%, and low fluorescence reticulocytes (LFRs), the most differentiated reti