Congenital anerythremic erythroleukemia presenting as hepatic failure

We report an atypical case of congenital erythroleukemia in a child born with hepatosplenomegaly and abnormal liver tests. The initial peripheral blood cell count showed anemia and hyperleukocytosis with erythroblastosis that disappeared 1 week later. During the next 5 weeks, no blasts were found in the blood, and less than 5% were found on 2 successive bone marrow aspirates. The infant died of hepatic failure. The suspected diagnosis on a premortem liver biopsy was confirmed by an autopsy that showed a blastic infiltration in many organs. These cells expressed only erythroid markers glycophorin A and C. Rearrangement of the myeloid lymphoid leukemia gene was not found by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The main differential diagnoses include metabolic diseases, Langerhans histiocytosis, Pepper syndrome, transient myeloproliferative disorder, and leukemoid reactions. Although some of these can be excluded by the pathologist, others require a multidisciplinary confrontation: clinical, biologic, genetic, and pathologic examinations.