Congenital erythroleukemia: a case report with morphological, immunophenotypic, and cytogenetic findings

We report a lethal case of congenital erythroleukemia presenting on the first day of life with peripheral blast cells and a leukemic infiltrate in the placenta. Although initial bone marrow examination did not fulfill the French-American-British (FAB) cooperative group criteria for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), including M6, a malignant clone was confirmed by cytogenetic analysis: 49,XX, +8, +19, +21. Evolution to erythroleukemia (M6) occurred over a two-month period. The diagnosis of erythroleukemia was supported by immunophenotyping employing an antibody to glycophorin A. The clinical course was complicated by liver failure of unknown etiology. Comparison to previously reported cases of early childhood erythroleukemia is made.