A case of childhood acute myeloid leukemia associated with inversion (7)(p21q31)

We describe a case of acute myeloid leukemia in a 2 1/2-year-old boy presen ting with a mediastinal tumor causing respiratory distress, and lymph node enlargement in the cervical and inguinal regions. Apart from myeloid marker s CD13 and CD33, blast cells also expressed stem cell marker CD34 and megak aryocytic marker CD61. Cytogenetically, inv(7)(p21q31) was found in 9/25 an d 15/25 analyzed metaphases from short-term cultures of lymph node and bone marrow cells, respectively. The patient is in continued complete remission 26 months post diagnosis. The case demonstrates that chromosome aberration s other than inv(16), t(8;21), and t(9;11) may be associated with extramedu llary disease, and that not all chromosome 7 aberrations are prognostic adv erse findings. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1998.