Unilateral parotid gland swelling as the sole presenting symptom of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children

Abstract

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in infants below 1year of age contributed 2.5–5% of childhood ALL incidence. Children with ALL commonly presented with fever, bruising, mucosal bleeding, bone pain, pallor, hepatosplenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy. Common extra medullary leukaemic infiltration has also been reported at diagnosis of ALL to sites such as the liver, spleen, lymph nodes, brain, testes and even nephromegaly. However ALL presented with parotid infiltration is exceedingly rare. We herein present a case of unilateral parotid enlargement in a child with newly diagnosed ALL. This unusual presentation focuses on the importance of considering ALL in the differential diagnosis of parotid enlargement especially when associated with abnormal blood counts.