Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. An unusual case of primary relapse in the uterine cervix

Female genital tract involvement by hematologic neoplasms is uncommon and is usually associated with disseminated disease. Lymphoid neoplasms, which involve the cervix and uterus primarily, are usually of either diffuse large cell or small cleaved cell type, and rarely Burkitt's (small non-cleaved) lymphoma or granulocytic sarcoma. In this report the authors describe young woman with acute stem cell leukemia which was terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase positive, and involved the bone marrow and peripheral blood. After induction of remission and a 2-year disease-free interval, she relapsed with involvement localized to the uterus and cervix. At relapse the leukemic cells expressed CD1, CD2, CD5, CD7, and CD4 or CD8, antigens of the common thymocyte compartment. The authors postulate that the T-cell antigens, known extracellular matrix receptors, may have determined the tissue infiltration: an unusual pattern of relapse.