Cancer Associated with Leukemia

Abstract

It is our belief that the association of a leukemic blood picture with malignant disease is rare. We have observed only 4 such cases among the records of 11,212 cases of malignancy, of which 38 were recorded as chronic lymphatic leukemia, 36 as myelogenous leukemia, 16 as aleukemic leukemia, 126 as Hodgkin9s disease, and 165 as lymphosarcoma.1 Hoffman at the Memorial Hospital, New York City, found 3 cases of malignancy associated with leukemia: 2 cases among 88 cases of myelogenous leukemia and one among 86 cases of lymphatic leukemia. Leszler studied leukocytosis in relation to tumors of the lung and liver and refers to others who have made observations of the leukocyte counts in secondary infection and metastatic invasions of the lymph stream. Krumbhaar called attention to pictures simulating leukemia associated with whooping cough, measles, mumps, and agranulocytosis. He also referred to one case of ulcerating cancer of the breast with severe hemorrhage in which there was a leukocytosis of 44,000 to 120,000, the polymorphonuclear leukocytes ranging from 95 to 92 per cent. This he attributed to the combined stimulus of cancer, infection, and hemorrhage. He quoted still another case showing a count of 106,000, with 26 per cent myelocytes, which was associated with hemorrhage following an incomplete abortion.