Down syndrome with microgranular variant of acute promyelocytic leukemia in a child: a case report

BACKGROUND: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) accounts for less than 10% of pediatric AML. Cases of APL in Down syndrome (DS) have been described in the literature rarely and it is rarer still to find the microgranular variant (M3v) of APL in trisomy 21 patients. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of a five-year-old female with Down syndrome diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). She came to our hospital with bleeding manifestations. Blood and bone marrow examination revealed promyelocytes showing a few fine granules and occasional Auer rods. Based on this morphology and cytochemistry, a diagnosis of APL microgranular variant (M3v) was made. CONCLUSION: This case report emphasizes the importance of a high index of suspicion in the diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia microgranular variant in Down syndrome.