A rare case of congenital acute myeloid leukemia in a new-born misdiagnosed as neonatal sepsis: Why Peripheral film review is an essential element in diagnosis.

Abstract

When leukemia develops while baby is still in utero, it is known as Congenital leu-kemia (CL). CL is an extremely rare form of acute leukemia. CL are mostly Myeloid in origin in contrast to the pediatric leukemias that are usually of Lymphoid type. Congenital leukemias have a poor prognosis as compared to transient abnormal myelopoiesis that usually affect 10% of newborns associated with down syndrome and may also go into spontaneous remission. CL poses a diagnostic dilemma as clin-ical features are quite similar to sepsis.This case report also highlights the im-portance of reviewing peripheral blood films of all newborns that can easily differ-entiate between reactive white blood cells ad abnormal cell like blast cells.
 Keywords: Congenital acute myeloid leukemia, congenital leukemia, peripheral blood film..