Congenital Leukemia: Two Transient Regressions Without Treatment in One Patient
1 Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI 48202
2 Children's Hospital of Michigan, Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201
To the Editor.
The article by Chu et al1 has prompted us to report briefly our experience with cytochemical, chromosomal, and immunologic marker studies in four patients with congenital leukemia. The clinical and laboratory findings for the four cases are summarized in Tables 1 and 2.
Congenital leukemia is extremely rare. 2-4 In our experience, only four cases have been reported during the last 15 years; at the same time approximately 500 cases of acute leukemia were seen at Children's Hospital of Michigan. Although the number is small, half the patients in these series had acute lymphatic leukemia, suggesting that even in this age group, acute lymphatic leukemia may be more common than previously appreciated when "transient leukemia" 56 associated with Down's syndrome is excluded.




