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Leukemia cutis presenting with fingertip hypertrophy
Anatoli Freiman1, Channy Y Muhn, Michel Trudel
1Division of Dermatology, SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Background:
Patients with leukemia often manifest cutaneous findings, which include nonspecific lesions and specific leukemic infiltrates termed leukemia cutis.
Objective:
A case of leukemia cutis involving distal finger pads is reported and literature describing hand involvement of specific leukemic infiltrates is reviewed.
Methods And Results:
An 80-year-old woman with a 10-year history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia developed painful symmetric tumors of her distal finger pads. Histopathological examination of the biopsy specimen revealed infiltration by neoplastic lymphocytes. Only a few cases of leukemia cutis involving the hands have been reported in the literature, none with this particular presentation. The clinical and histopathologic features of leukemia cutis are reviewed.
Conclusion:
This case emphasizes the importance of obtaining a biopsy specimen for histopathological examination of any suspicious skin lesion in a patient with leukemia.