Acute myeloblastic leukemia in a patient with primary antiphospholipid syndrome

Abstract

Antiphospholipid syndrome is characterized by venous and arterial thrombosis, recurrent pregnancy loss and the presence of the lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin antibodies or both. Antiphospholipid syndrome may occur as a primary disease or in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus or other autoimmune, infectious or neoplastic disorders. In this paper we report a 29-year-old Saudi female, a known case of antiphospholipid syndrome, presented with complaints of fever, breathlessness and generalized fatigue. Further investigations confirmed her as a case of myeloblastic leukemia (M1, French-American-British classification). Acute myeloblastic leukemia is not described to be associated with primary antiphospholipid syndrome in the literature to date. This is the first case report of such association.