A case of acute myeloid leukemia, with pseudo-Pelger neutrophils

Neutrophil nuclear hyposegmentation, known as the Pelger-Huet anomaly, is frequent in myeloproliferative diseases. We report a case of a woman with acute myeloid leukemia (M₂) presenting pseudo-Pelger type neutrophils in apparently complete bone marrow remission. We studied neutrophil function and C.F.U.-G.M. colonies obtained from in-vitro culture of bone marrow and circulating cells. Neutrophil function tests showed an increase in the LAP score and a deficit in chemotaxis. The data obtained from in-vitro culture of granulocyte pregenitor cells (C.F.U. -G.M.) demonstrated an increased number of clusters. The Pelger-Huet anomaly is always a sign of altered bone marrow regulatory mechanisms.