Paediatric Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria: A Report of Two Cases

Background: Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder with BCR/ABL mutation characterized by proliferation of granulocytic cell lines at varying stages of development. It is predominantly a disease of the adult population, only accounting for 2-3% of all childhood leukaemia. In our tertiary hospital, we recorded two cases of paediatric CML within three years. Objective: To increase the awareness of physicians on this seemingly rare form of childhood leukaemia. Case reports: We report a 10 year-old boy and a 16 year-old girl who presented to our facility with features suggestive of CML. Both cases had splenomegaly and leucocytosis. Cytogenetic assessment was positive for BCR-ABL in both cases. The first case was in chronic phase (CP) and had an initial therapy of hydroxyurea (HU) before referral for imatinib therapy. The second case received imatinib therapy, however due to blastic transformation to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), she received treatment comprising of intravenous anthracycline and cytarabine. Conclusion: CML, although one of the rare childhood leukaemia is becoming increasingly noticed, probably due to availability of diagnostic facilities. There is therefore need for increased awareness of the disease among physicians to minimize delays in the diagnosis for improved care and better outcome.