Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm in children: A review of two cases

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a newly characterized, rare malignant tumor of the skin and hematopoietic system. BPDCN occurs mainly in the elderly, whereas it is rarer among children, and has variable clinical manifestations. Optimal chemotherapeutic regimens for the treatment of BPDCN have not yet been determined and this tumor has a poor prognosis. In this study, two pediatric cases of BPDCN, including a 7-year-old female and a 9-year-old male patient, diagnosed at the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University over the past 2 years, were retrospectively reviewed. Both cases exhibited multiple organ involvement, although the clinical manifestations differed; they were diagnosed with BPDCN based on the clinical manifestations, pathological and immunohistochemical findings, which included positivity for CD4, CD56 and CD123. A high-risk acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) chemotherapy regimen was administered to both patients. The patient in the first case achieved a complete remission, but unfortunately her parents refused follow-up treatment and she succumbed to the disease 9 months after the initial diagnosis. The second patient was treated for a total of three courses with a chemotherapy regimen including daunorubicin, cytarabine and etoposide, followed by two courses of the high-risk ALL chemotherapy regimen; unfortunately, a remission was not achieved and the patient was scheduled to receive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Thus, not all pediatric BPDCN patients may be able to achieve complete remission following chemotherapy with the high-risk ALL regimen, and other treatment options must be investigated in the future.