Chronic myeloid leukaemia in a man with myasthenia gravis treated by thymectomy

Abstract

Treatment-related chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a less commonly recognised entity. It differs from treatment-related acute leukaemias in frequency, clinical course, and prognosis. Previously two cases of CML have been described following treatment of myasthenia gravis associated with thymoma treated by thymectomy. We report a 25-yr-old man with myasthenia gravis without thymoma who developed CML, 68 months after thymectomy. Cytogenetic study showed translocation (9,22)(q34;q11) with 10% showing double Ph chromosome. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of peripheral blood demonstrated the presence of p210(BCR/ABL) with b3a2 transcripts. He was treated with hydroxyurea, and still remained in the chronic phase during the last 6 months of follow up. His myasthenic symptoms remained stable.

Myasthenia Gravis and Myeloproliferative Neoplasms – Mere Association or Paraneoplastic Neurologic Syndrome: A Mini-Review

“…The earliest reports were of 2 CML patients who developed MG after several years of treatment with busulfan. A summary of all cases of MPNs associated with MG is presented in Table 1 [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

Development of myasthenia gravis in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia during treatment with nilotinib

“…9 There are however several published case reports describing an association between the development of myasthenia gravis both preceding and following the development of CML. 10-15 The causal association between these two conditions cannot be determined from these individual reports.…”