Intramuscular leukemic relapse: clinical signs and imaging findings. A multicentric analysis

Leukemia is a group of malignant diseases involving peripheral blood and bone marrow. Extramedullary tumor manifestation in leukemia can also occur. They more often involve lymph nodes, skin, and bones. Intramuscular leukemic relapse (ILR) is very unusual. The aim of this analysis was to summarize the reported data regarding clinical signs and radiological features of ILR.

The PubMed database was searched for publications related to ILR. After an analysis of all identified articles, 20 publications matched the inclusion criteria. The authors of the 20 publications were contacted and provided imaging of their cases for review. The following were recorded: age, gender, primary diagnosis, clinical signs, pattern, localization and size of the intramuscular leukemic relapse. Images of 16 patients were provided [8 computer tomographic (CT) images and 15 magnetic resonance images, MRI]. Furthermore, one patient with ILR was identified in our institutional database. Therefore, images of 17 patients were available for further analysis.

Overall, 32 cases with ILR were included in the analysis. In most cases acute myeloid leukemia was diagnosed. Most ILRs were localized in the extremities (44 %) and in the extraocular muscles (44 %). Clinically, ILR manifested as local pain, swelling and muscle weakness. Radiologically, ILR presented most frequently with diffuse muscle infiltration. On postcontrast CT/MRI, most lesions demonstrated homogeneous enhancement. ILRs were hypo-/isointense on T1w and hyperintense on T2w images.

ILR manifests commonly as focal pain, swelling and muscle weakness. ILR predominantly involved the extraocular musculature and the extremities. Radiologically, diffuse muscle infiltration was the most common imaging finding.