Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2002 Nov;55(11):862-4.
doi: 10.1136/jcp.55.11.862.

Chronic neutrophilic leukaemia: 14 new cases of an uncommon myeloproliferative disease

J Böhm  1 , H E Schaefer
Affiliations

Chronic neutrophilic leukaemia: 14 new cases of an uncommon myeloproliferative disease

J Böhm et al. J Clin Pathol. 2002 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Chronic neutrophilic leukaemia (CNL) is a distinct BCR/ABL negative myeloproliferative disorder of elderly patients characterised by sustained neutrophilia and splenomegaly. The bone marrow shows expansion of neutrophilic granulopoiesis, without excess of myeloblasts. To date, only 129 cases of CNL have been reported in the literature.

Aims: To report the findings from a large group of 14 new cases of CNL, consisting of eight women and six men (mean age, 64.7 years).

Methods: A review of the 14 new cases of CNL and the investigation of BCR/ABL translocations in these patients.

Results: Three quarters of the patients died within two years after diagnosis, mostly as a result of severe cerebral haemorrhage. Two younger patients were successfully treated with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation or interferon, which resulted in haematological remission for years.

Conclusion: CNL is a rare myeloproliferative disease mostly taking a fatal clinical course, despite the presence of mature neutrophils as leukaemic cells in the blood. Thus, it is important to recognise CNL to develop appropriate therapeutic strategies for affected patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of patients with chronic neutrophilic leukaemia in the literature (including the Freiburg cases) according to sex and age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Imbert M, Vardiman JW, Bain B, et al. Chronic myeloproliferative diseases. In: Jaffe ES, Harris NL, Stein H, Vardiman JW, eds. World Health Organisation classification of tumours. Pathology and genetics of tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. Lyon: IARC Press, 2001:20–8.
    1. Elliott MA, Dewald GW, Tefferi A, et al. Chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL): a clinical, pathologic and cytogenetic study. Leukemia 2001;15:35–40. - PubMed
    1. You W, Weisbrot IM. Chronic neutrophilic leukemia. Report of two cases and review of the literature. Am J Clin Pathol 1979;72:233–42. - PubMed
    1. Meyer S, Feremans W, Cantiniaux B, et al. Successful alpha-2b-interferon therapy for chronic neutrophilic leukaemia. Am J Hematol 1993;43:307–9. - PubMed
    1. Reilly JT. Chronic neutrophilic leukaemia: a distinct clinical entity? Br J Haematol 2002;116:10–18. - PubMed