Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Acute myeloid leukaemia (M6B: pure acute erythroid leukaemia) in a Thoroughbred foal.
- Journal:
- Australian veterinary journal
- Year:
- 2011
- Authors:
- Forbes, G et al.
- Affiliation:
- Veterinary Clinic and Hospital · Australia
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A 10-week-old Thoroughbred filly was brought to the vet because she had been anemic, or low in red blood cells, for about four weeks. Blood tests showed she had severe anemia and a low white blood cell count. Further examination of her bone marrow revealed a very unusual number of red blood cell precursors, which indicated a specific type of cancer called pure acute erythroid leukaemia. Unfortunately, no treatment was given, and the filly passed away just three days after being seen by the vet. This case highlights the importance of looking at both blood tests and bone marrow samples to diagnose this serious condition.
Abstract
A 10-week-old Thoroughbred filly was referred for anaemia of 4 weeks' duration. Haematology revealed severe anaemia and panleucopenia. Cytological examination of bone marrow smears revealed a myeloid to erythroid ratio <0.02:1 (reference range 0.5-2.4:1.0) and an abundance of erythroid precursor cells. The erythroid cell population included rubriblasts, prorubricytes and rubricytes, with only scant numbers of metarubricytes present. There were numerous mitotic erythroid cells, some of which were atypical and megaloblastic. These cytomorphological changes are consistent with pure acute erythroid leukaemia. No treatment was instituted and the filly died three days after presentation. This case illustrates the need to consider both haematology and bone marrow findings to establish a diagnosis of pure erythroid leukaemia. To our knowledge, there is no documented case of acute myeloproliferative disease in horses involving cells of erythroid lineage, but this condition should be considered a differential diagnosis for horses presenting with anaemia.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21696377/