Arthritis as a presentation of acute leukemia

A 14 year old boy presented with 3 months history of low back pain as well as pain and swelling of both knee joints. The pain was inflammatory in nature. He was thoroughly evaluated but no underlying cause was detected. However, the boy was treated with NSAIDs and sulphasalazine. A few weeks later he developed anemia and took the blood transfusion. Then he developed fever and the joint pain re-appeared. On examination, the patient was found moderately anemic, positive bony tenderness and splenomegaly. Musculoskeletal examination revealed right knee joint effusion. The investigation revealed pancytopenia. Bone marrow morphology and immunophenotyping revealed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We treated the patient according to modified UKALL-2003 protocol and patient condition improved and arthritis disappeared

Atypical presentation of sickle cell disease

A 20 year old female presented with a history of frequent syncopal attack since her childhood. Each episode persisted 5-10 min without having any aggravating factor or prodrome. She had persistent generalized bodyache aggravating during the winter. She had jaundice and episodic abdominal pain. She received 1 unit of blood transfusion 4 months back and improved sympto-matically. Patient was mildly anemic, moderately icteric and had mild splenomegaly. Over these long periods of her illness she was thoroughly evaluated several times. Her biochemical and neurological evaluation revealed no abnormalities. But she was treated with anticonvulsant for long time empirically without significant improvement. Her CBC showed microcytic hypochromic anemia. She was negative for Wilsons disease. Reticulocyte count was high. Coombs test was negative. Osmotic fragility test was positive. Hemoglobin electrophoresis revealed Hb-S 60%. Sickling test was found positive. Finally it was diagnosed as a case of HbS/?+

Arthritis as a presentation of acute leukemia

A 14 year old boy presented with 3 months history of low back pain as well as pain and swelling of both knee joints. The pain was inflammatory in nature. He was thoroughly evaluated but no underlying cause was detected. However, the boy was treated with NSAIDs and sulphasalazine. A few weeks later he developed anemia and took the blood transfusion. Then he developed fever and the joint pain re-appeared. On examination, the patient was found moderately anemic, positive bony tenderness and splenomegaly. Musculoskeletal examination revealed right knee joint effusion. The investigation revealed pancytopenia. Bone marrow morphology and immunophenotyping revealed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We treated the patient according to modified UKALL-2003 protocol and patient condition improved and arthritis disappeared