Systemic lupus erythematosus and chronic myeloid leukemia: mere coexistence or association.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem connective tissue disorder associated with increased predisposition to haematological malignancies. Myeloid series malignancies are rarely associated with SLE. We here report a case of Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) associated with SLE in a 36 year old Indian housewife. This is probably the first such case to be reported from India and only a handful of such cases have been reported in World literature till now. The patient presented initially with leukopenia. She was treated with imatinib with good results.