CONGENITAL LEUKEMIA-CUTIS PRECEDING MONOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA BY 3 MONTHS

We report an infant born with a cutaneous nodular eruption and neutrop enia. Skin biopsy specimens revealed an immature dermal infiltrate sug gestive of leukemia cutis, but repeated peripheral blood and bone marr ow examinations failed to demonstrate malignant cells, The eruption re solved spontaneously, At the age of 3 months, a second occurrence of m aculopapular skin lesions led to discovery of an acute monoblastic leu kemia with (9;11)(p21-22;q23) translocation, Congenital acute leukemia is a rare disease associated with skin infiltration in 25% to 30% of patients, Usually the diagnosis is easily made by peripheral blood exa mination and/or bone marrow aspirate, However, skin involvement may pr ecede acute leukemia by several weeks, Although very rare, this event must be kept in mind.