T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in an Infant: A Case Report and Review of Literature

A high index of suspicion of acute leukemia in infants presenting with atypical clinical and laboratory features is of paramount importance to avoid the delay in diagnosis, and treatment of this rare, yet extremely aggressive entity. We report a case of a 10 months infant presenting with a one-month history of fever and restlessness along with complete blood count (CBC) findings of bicytopenia, borderline leukocytosis, leucoerythroblastic picture, and reactive lymphocytes. Considering infection, the patient was kept on antibiotics and symptomatic treatment. However, the persistence of findings led to bone marrow aspirate which revealed T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) on flow cytometry. Infant ALL is almost B cell phenotype and T-ALL is hardly ever reported. Knowledge and recognition of these cases can help to improve awareness regarding consideration of this rare phenotype of leukemia irrespective of clinical presentation and age of the patient. Key Words: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Infant leukemia, Flow cytometry.