T-prolymphocytic leukaemia with spontaneous remission

T-prolymphocytic leukaemia (T-PLL) is a rare disorder with a poor prognosis . A 69-year-old man was diagnosed as having a small-cell variant of T-PLL a ccording to the French-American-British classification by haematological, i mmunological and ultrastructural studies, although the cells had a CD7(-) p henotype and no chromosomal abnormality. He had no symptoms or organomegaly . The number of his lymphocytes, 53.7 x 10(9)/l at the time of diagnosis, g radually decreased without therapy, and he was in complete remission 39 mon ths later. A rearranged band in the T-cell antigen receptor-beta gene, whic h was detected at the time of diagnosis, decreased or disappeared. This is the first report of a T-PLL case with spontaneous complete remission.