A 38-year-old man was admitted because of cough, fever, headache, and malaise. He was pale but otherwise in good general condition. The hemogram showed: white blood cell count, 1.7 × 109/L; hemoglobin, 97 g/L (mean corpuscular volume, 99 fL); and platelets, 7 × 109/L. A blood smear showed marked anisocytosis, anisochromia, and poikilocytosis; no blast cells were observed. A bone marrow aspirate showed 82% erythroblasts and marked dyserythropoietic signs (panels A-B) including extraordinarily giant polychromatophilic red blood cells with prominent basophilic stippling (panel C, red arrow). In addition, 12% blasts (myeloperoxidase positive; black arrow) were counted. The karyotype was 46 XY, −7, +21 [14]/46 XY [6]. A diagnosis of acute erythroid leukemia (AEL) erythroid/myeloid or French-American-British M6 acute myeloid leukemia was achieved. The patient entered complete remission after a 3+7 idarubicin–Ara-C regimen and is currently scheduled for a matched unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation.
In their later differentiating stages in bone marrow, erythroblasts undergo a decrease in cell size, nuclear extrusion, and internal organelle degradation before traversing the sinus endothelium. In the setting of the continuum of myelodysplastic syndrome/AEL, marked abnormalities of erythroid maturation in the bone marrow niche occur as seen in the 3 panels. We herein show an extreme example of asynchronism between enucleation and cell size reduction.
A 38-year-old man was admitted because of cough, fever, headache, and malaise. He was pale but otherwise in good general condition. The hemogram showed: white blood cell count, 1.7 × 109/L; hemoglobin, 97 g/L (mean corpuscular volume, 99 fL); and platelets, 7 × 109/L. A blood smear showed marked anisocytosis, anisochromia, and poikilocytosis; no blast cells were observed. A bone marrow aspirate showed 82% erythroblasts and marked dyserythropoietic signs (panels A-B) including extraordinarily giant polychromatophilic red blood cells with prominent basophilic stippling (panel C, red arrow). In addition, 12% blasts (myeloperoxidase positive; black arrow) were counted. The karyotype was 46 XY, −7, +21 [14]/46 XY [6]. A diagnosis of acute erythroid leukemia (AEL) erythroid/myeloid or French-American-British M6 acute myeloid leukemia was achieved. The patient entered complete remission after a 3+7 idarubicin–Ara-C regimen and is currently scheduled for a matched unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation.
In their later differentiating stages in bone marrow, erythroblasts undergo a decrease in cell size, nuclear extrusion, and internal organelle degradation before traversing the sinus endothelium. In the setting of the continuum of myelodysplastic syndrome/AEL, marked abnormalities of erythroid maturation in the bone marrow niche occur as seen in the 3 panels. We herein show an extreme example of asynchronism between enucleation and cell size reduction.
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![A 38-year-old man was admitted because of cough, fever, headache, and malaise. He was pale but otherwise in good general condition. The hemogram showed: white blood cell count, 1.7 × 109/L; hemoglobin, 97 g/L (mean corpuscular volume, 99 fL); and platelets, 7 × 109/L. A blood smear showed marked anisocytosis, anisochromia, and poikilocytosis; no blast cells were observed. A bone marrow aspirate showed 82% erythroblasts and marked dyserythropoietic signs (panels A-B) including extraordinarily giant polychromatophilic red blood cells with prominent basophilic stippling (panel C, red arrow). In addition, 12% blasts (myeloperoxidase positive; black arrow) were counted. The karyotype was 46 XY, −7, +21 [14]/46 XY [6]. A diagnosis of acute erythroid leukemia (AEL) erythroid/myeloid or French-American-British M6 acute myeloid leukemia was achieved. The patient entered complete remission after a 3+7 idarubicin–Ara-C regimen and is currently scheduled for a matched unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation. / In their later differentiating stages in bone marrow, erythroblasts undergo a decrease in cell size, nuclear extrusion, and internal organelle degradation before traversing the sinus endothelium. In the setting of the continuum of myelodysplastic syndrome/AEL, marked abnormalities of erythroid maturation in the bone marrow niche occur as seen in the 3 panels. We herein show an extreme example of asynchronism between enucleation and cell size reduction.](https://ash.silverchair-cdn.com/ash/content_public/journal/blood/126/11/10.1182_blood-2015-06-651646/4/m_1391f1.jpeg?Expires=1763474497&Signature=KnAlYwNMZNpOamXPXuHm1aAFH7vAEUmto2-ylIBFwtrlLmVJgom8fAZXnPO9buM7P3XXyZW0u3YAh1CULxjB9qNQ~5glIXxZgsx3cJ0IJ~8XMePV3KQL9Qok2rBaR7797zFjCZKTsQrTzxBS-vozRGlfaRpxm9gV37LHFC5Xa3Z3Ju7xdkIDo9o15ZlpspHEatoQyReVGQc-7qprUN3e~3iMBhwEzCfq6Rd2GuM7xjGpoOQYGLdKj2jPWQKxwT9G2~EU3CXO-cuZ~Em7oyKtIU0xsJf4EccZjiVDusleU8R6qqmTnTSUf4y06Ri2PCyLb0GEQDHTpOSoaGTDsoQ~1Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA)
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