Acute Spinal Cord Compression due to Chloroma as the Initial Presenting Feature of Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract

Chloroma is the deposits in leukemic cells outside the bone marrow and is not common. It is extremely rare to find a chloroma compressing the spinal cord causing paraplegia without any prior symptoms. Only few case reports have been found in the literature till date. We report an interesting case of a 7-year-old boy who presented with acute back pain and paraplegia with a dorsal extradural mass, and with a previous diagnosis of tuberculosis of the dorsal spine, treated with antitubercular drugs without any other signs of systemic illness. After surgical decompression and histopathologic examination of the tissue, it was found to be chloroma. There are only few reported cases of this disease initially presented as paraplegia without any systemic signs of malignancy in the literature, and chloroma presents as a diagnostic challenge to the surgeon. Chloromas are a rare cause of acute spinal cord compression but should be diagnosed and treated promptly to prevent neurologic dysfunction.

Keywords

• chloroma
• leukemia
• paraplegia