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