Acute megakaryocytic leukemia in a newborn with down syndrome

Abstract

Patient with Down's syndrome (DS) are found to have an increased risk of developing various hematological disorders. There is 46- to 83-fold increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 10- to 27-fold increased risk of acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL). One of the most characteristics feature of Down syndrome associated AML (DS-AML) is that vast majority of case (c.70%) of AML in DS are megakaryoblastic i.e. M7 as per FAB classification (DS- AMKL). Virtually, all cases of DS-AMKL occur within the first 5 years of life. The median age of presentation of AMKL is 1.8 years. We report a case of AMKL in a newborn with Down's syndrome.