Cutaneous Manifestations of Myelogenous Leukemia

In 1845 Virchow was the first to describe under the term "Weisses Blut or Leukaemie" a syndrome characterized by splenomegaly and a considerable increase in the white blood corpuscles.^* In 1891 Ehrlich was able to separate the myeloid proliferations from the lymphatic ones and gave a hematological basis to this differentiation.† The first cutaneous manifestation of leukemia was recorded by Biesiadecki in 1876‡ Later in 1902, Audry suggested the term "leucémides" to describe the nonspecific cutaneous manifestations of leukemia.³

Leukemia cutis of the lymphogenous variety being much more frequent than the myelogenous one, it is not surprising to note that all of the first case reports were those of lymphogenous leukemia. The first cases of myelogenous cutaneous leukemia were reported by Hindenberg⁴ and Hirschlaff § in 1895, and in 1899 by Nekam.⁶

CLASSIFICATION

The cutaneous manifestations of myelogenous leukemia can