Acute monoblastic leukemia (aleukemic leukemia) presenting as gingival enlargement

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant disease of the bone marrow in which hematopoietic stem cells fail to differentiate. Overproliferation of these abnormal cells results in suppression of the normal components of the bone marrow. Aleukemic leukemia is a type of leukemia in which abnormal (or leukemic) cells are absent in the peripheral blood. We put forth a unique case of aleukemic leukemia presenting as gingival enlargement, that was diagnosed by immunophenotyping and flow cytometery as acute monoblastic leukemia (AML FAB 5a).