抄録
The clinical and hematological features of 28 patients with adult T cell leukemia (ATL) are described. ATL has been becoming a disease attracting special attention because of its peculiar geographic distribution of the patients' birthplace, converging on the southern part of Kyushu, and its fulminant clinical course and inefficient treatment.
The disease affects equally both sexes in 40 years and over. Presenting symptoms predominantly include abdominal distention, skin lesion and lassitude. Moderate to massive enlargement of the liver and/or spleen and skin lesion, different from those in Sézary syndrome and mycosis fungoides, are frequent findings, while peripheral lymphadenopathy is inconspicuous or absent. No patient has a mediastinal tumor.
Leukemic cells with pleomorphic nuclear irregularity and T cell property are found at high rate in peripheral blood (83.1 precent of 87,100/cmm WBC) and bone marrow. Dysfunction of the liver are detected on several occasion by blood-chemical examinations.
The remission is hardly obtained with usual anti-leukemic chemotherapy, being accompanied with lethal complications, such as generalized mycosis, pneumonia and interstitial pneumonitis, suggesting the deficiency of cellular immunity. Two months is the median survival time from diagnosis.
