Small lymphocyte T-cell leukemia in the adult

A 49-year-old man is described with morphologic T cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, whose clinical course, however, progressively deteriorated with central nervous system involvement, resistance to treatment and death within eight months. In addition to widespread organ invasion by leukemic cells there was depression of cellular immunity. The leukemic lymphocytes showed an aberrant response to mitogens, and despite undetectable Ia-like surface antigens were able to stimulate allogeneic cells in the mixed leucocyte reaction. From this and similar cases reviewed herein, it appears that the syndrome of small T-lymphocyte leukemia of the adult is a rapidly aggressive and resistant disease with characteristic clinical and laboratory findings.