The Association of Mono-myelogenous Leukemia with Tuberculosis. One Disease or Two?

Abstract

It is recognized that hematologic abnormalities may occur in patients with tuberculosis. At times the blood changes are so marked as to suggest the diagnosis of leukemia. Differentiation between leukemoid reactions to tuberculosis and unrelated leukemia is difficult because of the lack of definitive criteria for these diagnoses. The purpose of this paper is to present four patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in whom the presenting manifestations were those of monomyelogenous leukemia and to point out the difficulties in diagnosis. In two of these patients, the pulmonary lesions of long-standing tuberculosis were present and tubercle bacilli were readily demonstrated in the