24 May 2017 (Monday) - A Case Study




This appeared on a Facebook group I follow over the weekend:

Please do a differential count on this virtual slide, peripheral blood. Just click on the link. You can zoom in and out and navigate around the slide to do the differential as if you are looking down the microscope.

History: Adult male for months complaining being unwell with night sweat, itchy skin and weight loss.

You can access this on your phone, tablet, or PC. I think you'll have a lot of question about this slide. After finishing your differential count, (200 cell count), what is your diagnosis.

Well, I thought it was CMML but as for a differential….

This morning came the update:

“Final Answer: CMML. I have annotated the virtual slide with 20 important annotations. According to WHO: Promonocytes are considered as blast equivalents. Please review the virtual slide with the annotations.

WHO classification: Myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms - CMMoL
Diagnositc criteria:
1. Persistent (3 months or more) peripheral monocyte count: >1.0 x 10^9/L
2. Less than 20% blasts in the PB and BM. (If >20%, it will be acute).
3. Dysplasia in one or more myeloid lines. (in this case, there are lots of Pergeroid neutrophils with very dense chromatin and abnormal monocytes with clove-leaf nucleus).
4. Philadelphia chromosome or BCR/ABL1 negative.
5. No PDGFRA/PDGFRB gene rearrangement.

This is a very challenging case because of the dysplastic features of the myeloid lineage cells. Some hypogranular myeloid cells also look like monocytes. The dysplastic (Pergeroid) neutrophils seems to have escaped most observers. I think if we just isolate these Pergeroid neutrophils, it may be easier to appreciate them.

Bone marrow was done, but the slides were not included in this post.

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