Carcinoma of the breast, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, macroglobulinemia, eosinophilic chloroma and myelosclerosis—a unique association

Abstract

A patient with carcinoma of the breast, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, macroglobulinemia, diffuse plasmacytosis, eosinophilic chloroma, and myelosclerosis is described. It is speculated that the lymphoproliferative disorders in this patient were the result of an immunologic reaction to the breast carcinoma. This immune response could have further initiated a marked eosinophilia which subsequently might have led to self-perpetuating proliferation of the eosinophilic granulocytes as manifested by the development of eosinophilic chloroma. Alternatively, a unitarian concept is proposed by which a dysfunctioning multi-potential stem cell may give rise to multiple diseases fitting into the categories of both the lymphoproliferative and myeloproliferative disorders.