[Erythroblastopenia associated with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia]

A patient is presented in whom the diagnoses of chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) and erythroblastopenia were simultaneously established. Besides the conventional criteria for both haemopathies, the culture of bone-marrow precursor cells showed lack of growth of the erythroid stem cells. 6-Mercaptopurine given as therapy for CMML failed to induce any favourable changes in erythroblastopenia, which in turn improved with prednisone. Nevertheless, the patients died five months after diagnosis due to acute transformation of the CMML.