Acute monocytic leukemia presenting as cutaneous involvement

Specific cutaneous lesions appearing during acute monocytic leukemia (AMol) are more frequent than those associated with other types of leukemia. Howe ver, skin involvement preceding the presence of leukemic cells in the perip heral blood is quite rare. In this paper, we describe a case where a 25-yea r-old male had multiple infiltrative erythemas and nodules on his arms. His tologically, the nodules were formed by masses of tumor cells in the dermis . Peripheral-blood tests revealed no abnormalities, but bone marrow aspirat ion from the sternum led to a diagnosis of AMoL, The diagnosis of specific cutaneous lesions of AMoL was confirmed by the results of cytochemical stud ies of bone marrow smears, and cutaneous nodules of cutaneous biopsy specim ens led to early diagnosis. Complete remission was achieved with combinatio n chemotherapy and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Copyright (R ) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.