Acute myeloid leukemia associated with t(1;3)(p36;q21) and extreme thrombocytosis: a clinical study with literature review

We present an unusual case study on acute myeloid leukemia associated with t(1;3) and extreme thrombocytosis, along with a thorough review on relevant literature of t(1;3) cases (58 patients). On the basis of this study and literature review, thrombocytosis (>400,000/μL) is a relatively common finding in one third of patients with t(1;3), whereas increase of platelet count by more than 1,000,000/μL is an extremely rare phenomenon, even among patients with t(1;3). To our knowledge, this study is the only documented case that recorded more than 2,000,000/μL of extreme thrombocytosis in a de novo acute myeloid leukemia patient with t(1;3) at initial diagnosis. Because only a few patients with t(1;3) responded to conventional chemotherapy, more aggressive therapy such as stem-cell transplantation should be considered to improve patient survival in t(1;3) cases.