Abstract
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a disease of advanced age with meanage ≥ 65 at diagnosis. In this paper, we aim to present an asymptomatic chronic lymphocytic leukemia case detected at very young age. A 24-year-old otherwise healthy male patient was found to have high white blood cell (WBC) count 46 x 10 9 /l on routine blood tests. Peripheral blood smear was consistent with lymphocytosis with mature looking lymphocytes. A bone marrow biopsy and the flowcytometric immunophenotyping were performed. These findings and the pathological examination were consistent with CLL. To the best of our knowledge, our patient is the third young CLL case in the literature. This patient was diagnosed at an early stage of the disease and was asymptomatic. While the previously reported cases had poor prognosis, our patient did not possess any poor prognostic feature. As a result, although very infrequent, CLL can be diagnosed among young patients with lymphocytosis and should be kept in mind when treating these patients.
Highlights
The main causes of lymphocytosis in young patients are viral infections, physiological stress and drug reactions [1]
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a monoclonal disease of mature B lymphocytes which are positive for the surface markers CD5, CD19 and CD23
Peripheral blood smear was consistent with lymphocytosis with mature looking lymphocytes
Summary
The main causes of lymphocytosis in young patients are viral infections, physiological stress and drug reactions [1]. CLL is a disease of advanced age with mean age ≥ 65 at the diagnosis. 1.5% and less than 0.7% of the patients are younger than 40 and 30 years of age at the diagnosis, respectively [2,3].In this paper, we are reporting an asymptomatic chronic lymphocytic leukemia case detected at a very young age. A 24-year-old otherwise healthy male patient was found to have a high white blood cell (WBC) count (46 x 109/l) on his routine blood tests. Seventyfive (75%) percent of the WBC was lymphocytes, hemoglobin (14.8 gr/dl) and platelet counts (323000/mm3) were in normal ranges. In his physical examination, he had axillary (3x2 cm) and submandibular (1.5 x1cm) lymphadenopathy.
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