Abstract
PATIENTS with acute leukemia often have a modest elevation in the leukocyte count and many blast cells in the peripheral blood smear. This is true of both patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia and those with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. Similarly, in the terminal stage of chronic granulocytic leukemia, patients commonly have an increase in white blood cells (WBCs), a percentage of which are blast forms in the peripheral blood. This situation does not occur in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. However, occasional patients with these diseases will have exceedingly high WBC counts, in excess of 100,000/ cu mm, and the blast cell level in the peripheral blood smear will likewise be in excess of 100,000/cu mm. Such a situation would then justifiably be called a "blast crisis." Patients with this finding deserve urgent medical therapy to forestall the development of leukocyte sludging in the vessels of the cerebral cortex. Subsequent diapedesis of leukemic
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
