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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2020; 41(02): 257-259
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_241_18
Case Report

Rapid Weight Gain: An Unusual Presentation of Leukemia

Ranjini Srinivasan
Department of Paediatrics, St John’s Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Sarita Thomas
Department of Paediatrics, St John’s Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
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Abstract

Neurological manifestations of leukemia can be due to direct effects of the malignancy or due to the indirect effects of infection or therapy. An 11-year-old boy presented with recent-onset weight gain with papilledema and a history of tuberculosis contact. Neuroimaging and initial microscopic examination of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) did not aid in the diagnosis of central nervous system leukemia. He was started on antitubercular treatment yet deteriorated. Repeat CSF analysis when subjected to cytospin and flow cytometry confirmed the diagnosis of B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Although there have been reports of relapsed ALL presenting as obesity, isolated rapid changes in weight at initial presentation are a very rare and unusual manifestation of ALL. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such report.

Keywords

Leukemia - meningitis - rapid weight gain - tuberculosis


Publication History

Received: 03 November 2018

Accepted: 17 September 2019

Article published online:
23 May 2021

© 2020. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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