clinical features of leukaemic cell accumulation

Last reviewed 01/2018

These include:

  • bone and joint pain:
    • particularly in children with ALL

  • hyperleukocytosis:
    • due to high counts ( >100 x 10^9 / l) of circulating blasts
    • symptoms include headache, convulsion, fits, focal neurology and coma

  • tissue deposits of leukaemic cells:
    • for example, causing gum hypertrophy, stomatitis
    • more common in the myelomonocytic and monocytic varieties of AML

  • CNS involvement:
    • especially in ALL
    • occurs in 25 to 50% children and 10 to 20% of adults with acute leukaemia

  • acute haemostatic failure:
    • associated with the promyelocytic (M3) variant of AML in which the cells release cytoplasmic granular content, thus activating coagulation and fibrinolytic systems

  • lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly:
    • more common in ALL than in AML