PITUITARY ADRENOCORTICOTROPIC HORMONE (ACTH) THERAPY IN EOSINOPHILIC LEUKEMIA

Abstract

Eosinophilic leukemia is a rare condition and perhaps because of its infrequence has not been completely accepted by all authorities as a clinical entity. However, there is the occasional case of leukemia in which the most striking feature is a preponderance of eosinophils among the leukemic cells. Whether this type of leukemia is merely a variation of a myeloid leukemia or entitled to a separate classification is an academic question. Evans and Nesbit¹ in a recent review were able to collect 18 cases of eosinophilic leukemia, and they added 1 case of their own. In approximately 200 cases of leukemia studied at the Hospital for Sick Children the case under consideration, with the possible exception of 1 other case, which did not fulfil all the requirements for a definitive diagnosis of eosinophilic leukemia, is the only one of this type which has been encountered. In pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)