Childhood erythroleukemia: review of clinical and biological features

This article summarizes our institutional experience with childhood erythroleukemia over a 17-year period, and reviews the pertinent literature related to the disease. Although considered a rare variant of acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia, childhood erythroleukemia can be clearly identified clinically and hematologically by using routine examinations and certain investigative laboratory techniques. Conventional chemotherapy appears inadequate for producing durable long-term disease-free survival in children with this disease. Therefore, attention must now be directed to developing new treatment strategies including innovative maintenance and consolidation protocols, the use of biological response modifiers, and use of allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation.