Preleukemic Syndrome Simulating SLE

A 70-year-old man presented with symmetrical arthritis and arthralgias, Raynaud's phenomenon, pleurisy, fever, maculopapular erythema, leuko- and thrombocytopenia, anemia, antinuclear antibodies and hypocomplementemia. His bone marrow morphology was normal. During therapy with corticosteroids he developed pulmonary tuberculosis which responded well to tuberculostatic treatment. Approximately one year after onset of his initial symptoms, myeloblasts were seen in the blood and a few weeks later the bone marrow showed a myeloblastic leukemia. The patient did not respond to cytostatic treatment and died six weeks later. Although this patient presented symptoms suggesting the diagnosis of SLE, in retrospect his condition probably represented an unusual type of preleukemic syndrome.