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
Case Reports
. 2018 Sep;41(5):571-574.
doi: 10.1080/10790268.2017.1375722. Epub 2017 Sep 20.

Development of acute promyelocytic leukemia in a patient with tetraplegia while in inpatient rehabilitation: A case report

Christopher A Beal  1   2 , Michael C Krouse  3 , Jeffrey T Tubbs  1   2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Development of acute promyelocytic leukemia in a patient with tetraplegia while in inpatient rehabilitation: A case report

Christopher A Beal et al. J Spinal Cord Med. 2018 Sep.

Abstract

Study design: a single case report.

Objectives: To report a case of a patient with tetraplegia who developed acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) while in inpatient rehabilitation after 10.5 months.

Setting: A VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury Service and Disorders Unit Case Report: A 47 year-old male with a stage IV sacral pressure ulcer and C4 AIS A complete tetraplegia secondary to a motor vehicle collision, developed fever, thrombocytopenia, and anemia 20 months after his injury while in inpatient rehabilitation and was found to have APL, confirmed following bone marrow biopsy.

Conclusion: There is a wide differential for fever after a spinal cord injury. In this case report, the source of fever was APL. It is important as healthcare providers to not overlook fevers when otherwise common causes do not fit the clinical picture. Additionally, there has been no association found between traumatic spinal cord injury and the development of acute leukemia, however this is the first case report. Therefore, it is important to continue investigating to determine if an association exists.

Keywords: Acute promyelocytic leukemia; Fever; Rehabilitation; Spinal cord injury; Tetraplegia; Thrombocytopenia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Myeloblasts with Auer rods.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. McKinley W, McNamee S, Meade M, Kandra K, Abdul N.. Incidence, etiology, and risk factors for fever following acute spinal cord injury. J Spinal Cord Med 2006;29(5):501–6 doi: 10.1080/10790268.2006.11753899 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Unsal-Delialioglu S, Kaya K, Sahin-Onat S, Kulakli F, Culha C, Ozel S.. Fever during rehabilitation in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury: analysis of 392 cases from a national rehabilitation hospital in Turkey. J Spinal Cord Med 2010;33:243–8 doi: 10.1080/10790268.2010.11689701 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beraldo P, Neves E, Alves C, Khan P, Cirilo A, Alencar M.. Pyrexia in hospitalised spinal cord injury patients. Paraplegia 1993;31:186–91 - PubMed
    1. Sugarman B.Fever in recently injured quadriplegic persons. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1982;63:639–40 - PubMed
    1. Lee JW, Jo YS, Park JS, Kim JM, Kim SK.. Heterotopic ossification in a tetraplegic patient with prolonged fever. J Rehabil Med 2015;47:669–71 doi: 10.2340/16501977-1984 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources