Chronic myeloid leukemia with marked thrombocythemic onset:a case report and literature review

Objective To investigate the clinical and biological characteristics of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with marked thrombocythemic onset. Methods A patient was diagnosed clinically as CML with marked thrombocythemic onset and the related articles were reviewed. Results The patients with CML mimicked essential thrombocythemia (ET) at presentation were relatively rare and might be misdiagnosed as ET because of marked thrombocytosis and moderate leukocytosis, which expressed bcr/abl fusion gene and could progress to accelerated phase or blast crises of CML. The analysis of the fusion gene subtype indicated that these CML patients with elevated platelet counts always harbored b3a2 type, which expressed the specific protein relevant to thrombocytosis and thrombopoiesis. Conclusions Chronic myeloid leukemia with marked thrombocythemic onset had unique clinical and biological characteristics and the diagnostic and therapeutic technique could get improved with the study of the disease.