Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Two Patients with β-Thalassemia Major

Abstract

Occurrence of leukemia in thalassemia major is a rare presentation. Here we report two cases of thalassemic patients, developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The genetic analysis revealed that, female and male patients were homozygous for IVSI-6 and IVSI-5, respectively. Two years ago the female patient presented by a high leukocyte count (154,000 µL) and male one also presented by 80,000 WBC/µL count 1 year ago. Microscopic examination of both patients revealed lymphoblasts that morphologically accommodate with ALL-L1 that were confirmed by photocytometry.