An Asymptomatic Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Case Presenting at a Very Young Age

Abstract

1. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a disease of advanced age with meanage  ≥ 65 at diagnosis. In this paper, we aim to present an asymptomatic chronic lymphocytic leukemia case detected at very young age. A 24-year-old otherwise healthy male patient was found to have high white blood cell (WBC) count 46 x 10⁹/l on routine blood tests. Peripheral blood smear was consistent with lymphocytosis with mature looking lymphocytes. A bone marrow biopsy and the flowcytometric immunophenotyping were performed. These findings and the pathological examination were consistent with CLL. To the best of our knowledge, our patient is the third young CLL case in the literature. This patient was diagnosed at an early stage of the disease and was asymptomatic. While the previously reported cases had poor prognosis, our patient did not possess any poor prognostic feature. As a result, although very infrequent, CLL can be diagnosed among young patients with lymphocytosis and should be kept in mind when treating these patients.