ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Acute Leukemia is rare in infants. It is characterized by non-specific symptomatology requiring a high index of suspicion on the part of a pediatrician for referral and diagnosis. It has peculiar biological features, unresponsiveness to treatment and poor prognosis. METHODS: Eighteen infants with acute leukemia were seen during 1994 to 2001 and were analyzed on the basis of clinical and laboratory data. There were 13 cases of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), 4 cases of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and one case remained unclassifiable, as the surface markers could not be done. Morphologically 9/13 cases of ALL were of FAB L1 type and remaining of L2 subtype, and 2/4 cases of AML were of FAB M1 type and remaining of M2 subtype. RESULT: Clinical data was available completely only in 11 cases. Hyperleucocytosis was present in 4 cases, organomegaly in 8 cases and lympadenopathy in 5 cases. One patient presented with a chloroma in the retrorbital region although there was no parenchymal involvement of the brain. Immunophenotyping could be done in 13 cases, where 7 cases were diagnosed as CALLA positive-ALL (HLADR+, CD19+, CD10+), 2 cases as Early Pre-B ALL (HLADR+, CD19+, CD10 negative), one as T ALL (cCD3+, CD2+, CD7+) and 3 cases as AML (CD13+, CD33+, HLADR+). None of our patients received treatment.