Abnormal presentation of a myeloid sarcoma in a non-leukemic pediatric patient

Abstract

Myeloid sarcoma is a rare tumor composed of proliferation of myeloid precursors cells in an extramedullary site; it can be located in any part of the body, but is most frequently encountered in the bone, periosteum, skin and soft tissues, orbit, lymph nodes, gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system, while involvement of the kidney is uncommon. The associated clinical symptoms depend on the localization of the tumour. Myeloid sarcoma is often the extramedullary manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia and is less commonly associated with myelodysplastic syndrome, chronic myeloid leukemia and other myeloproliferative diseases. Myeloid sarcoma generally manifests concurrently or during the course of acute myeloid leukemia but may present as initial manifestation in the absence of bone marrow involvement; moreover, it can also be expression of the relapse of the hematological disease. In children with diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia the incidence rate of myeloid sarcoma reaches 40%. Myeloid sarcoma shows slight predilection for males and is most frequent in young children than in adolescents and adults. In this article, we report a case of an 11-year-old boy with myeloid sarcoma of the kidney without bone marrow involvement.