Acute Leukemia in a Patient With Down's Syndrome and Transient Congenital Leukemia

The incidence of acute leukemia in children with Down's syndrome has been reported to be as high as 30 times that of the general population.¹A disorder with a hematologic picture indistinguishable from congenital leukemia also has been reported in newborns with Down's syndrome.²⁻⁴However, complete, long-term remission was observed in these patients without any specific treatment.²⁻⁴The following case illustrates a patient with Down's syndrome in whom acute leukemia developed one year after spontaneous remission of transient congenital leukemia. See also p 310. Report of a Case.—A newborn boy with Down's syndrome was transferred to Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hospital for Children, St Louis, because of an abnormal blood cell count. His blood cell count revealed a hemoglobin level of 18 g/dL, corrected WBC count of 23,000/cu mm, with 11% blast forms, 140 nucleated RBCs per 100 WBCs, and a platelet count of 124,000/cu mm.