Leucapheresis for management of retinopathy in chronic myeloid leukaemia

Muhajir Mohamed1, Carmen Oakley2, Fiona McEwen1

  • 1Department of Haematology, Launceston General Hospital, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

BMJ Case Reports
|December 3, 2015
PubMed

Chronic myeloid leukaemia is a myeloproliferative neoplasm characterised by granulocytic hyperplasia in the bone marrow and the presence of a specific cytogenetic abnormality known as Philadelphia chromosome with fusion of breakpoint cluster region (BCR) and ableson (ABL) genes. Retinopathy is a rare sight-threatening complication of chronic myeloid leukaemia, which occurs due to leucostasis in retinal blood vessels. We report a case of a patient who presented with visual impairment due to leucostasis, who was successfully managed by leucapheresis along with BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

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