2002 Volume 41 Issue 6 Pages 459-460
We report a case of an extramedullary relapse of acute myelogenous leukemia [M2 t (8; 21)] in the parotid gland and parapharyngeal space of a 50-year-old male. A Papanicolaou stain, revealed scattered small blasts with enlarged. nuclei. The blast-like cells were difficult to definitively diagnose by Papanicolaou stain. but the clinical findings enabled a diagnosis of the extramedullary spreading of acute leukemia cells to be confirmed using immunohistochemistry for peroxidase as well as May Giemsa staining. The possibility of extramedullary extensions or relapses should be kept in mind during the cytological examination of solid mass lesions in patients undergoing chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia.
