Abstract
Four cases of acute myeloid leukemia (A. M. L.) complicated with tuberculosis (T. B.) were observed among ninety-six A. M. L. patients at Osaka Red Cross Hospital from 1960 to 1973. The incidence of complication with T. B. was 4% in those cases.
Leukemia was found in the course of treatment of T. B. in each case. All of them were diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis, for tubercule bacilli were detected by cultivation of their sputa once or more in the course of the illness. Chest X-ray film revealed pulmonary caseous lesions in three cases. The another patient suffered from lymphoadenitis colli tuberculosis with productive tuberculous lesion. T. B. was observed in remission during the relapse of leukemia. The reverse phenomenon was also observed in the course of admission.
The patients lived for 26, 13, 9 and over 36 months. These survival periods may be considered very long compared with each yearly 50% servival term of A. M. L. i. e. 3mo., 3mo., 3mo. and 9mo., respectively. The fourth case is still in remission of A. M. L., Tuberculin reaction of this pt. was strongly positived and peripheral blood lymphocyte could respond to P. H. A. in normal level. These observation may suggest that the function of lymphocyts as cellular immunity is still intact in spite of suffering from A. M. L..
T. B. was considered to produce the good results in the prognosis of A. M. L.. The mechnism seems to be as the same as B. C. G. vaccination therapy.
