Eosinophilic leukemia with report of a case.

Abstract

EOSINOPHILIC leukemia or so-called myeloid leukemia with pronounced eosinophilic predominance is an extremely rare disorder. A review of the literature reveals considerable hesitancy to admit its existence as a distinct clinical entity. Its separate identity has been questioned in the reported cases because of the relative maturity of eosinophils in the peripheral blood arid bone marrow, as contrasted with the large numbers of immature cells observed in the more familiar forms of leukemia. As a further difficulty, in chronic myeloid leukemia especially, there is often a relative increase in eosinophils, both mature and immature. Traditionally, there has been slowness to accept other forms of leukemia when first described. The existence of monocytic leukemia is still denied by some observers. In 1912 Stillman1presented the first case of myeloid leukemia with predominance of eosinophilic cells. Since then, approximately 25 similar cases have been described in the form of single case