Translocation (8;21) acute myeloid leukemia presenting as severe aplastic anemia

Enkhtsetseg Purev; Bogdan Dumitriu; Christopher S Hourigan; Neal S Young; Danielle M Townsley

doi:10.1016/j.lrr.2014.04.002

Translocation (8;21) acute myeloid leukemia presenting as severe aplastic anemia

Leuk Res Rep. 2014 Jun 11;3(2):46-8. doi: 10.1016/j.lrr.2014.04.002. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Enkhtsetseg Purev¹, Bogdan Dumitriu¹, Christopher S Hourigan¹, Neal S Young¹, Danielle M Townsley¹

Affiliation

¹ National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, United States.

Abstract

We report a case of t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia presenting as severe aplastic anemia. While initial bone marrow biopsy lacked any cytogenetic abnormalities in 20 analyzed metaphases, repeat bone marrow biopsy eight days later demonstrated this translocation. Initial cytogenetic analysis of 20 metaphases was therefore insufficient to make the diagnosis of hypocellular acute myeloid leukemia. We discuss that further complementary molecular tests, such as CGH, would likely provide a more robust diagnosis of hematopoietic diseases.

Keywords: Acute leukemia; Aplastic anemia; Comparative genomic hybridization; t(8;21).