Erythroid blast crisis in chronic myelogenous leukemia: Case report and review of literature

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder where over a period of time 15–20% of patients show blastic transformation with majority transforming into acute myeloid leukemia, most of which are of granulocytic lineage. Erythroid blast phase of CML is relatively rare with the incidence ranging from 0–10%. Further the incidence of acute erythroid leukemia by itself is fairly low amongst all acute leukemias. We report a case of 41-year-old patient with CML who failed to achieve cytogenetic remission, transformed to acute erythroid leukemia and eventually succumbed to the disease over a short period of time. Related literature is also reviewed