A 23-year-old, white male metallurgist presented with pruritic erythematous maculo-papules over the trunk and upper limbs and 6 months later developed erythroderma, eosinophilia and multi-organ dysfunction. A diagnosis of chronic eosinophilic leukaemia was made on the basis of myeloproliferative involvement of both peripheral blood and bone marrow, associated with eosinophilic differentiation and a t(5;12)(q33;p13) translocation. The initial therapeutic approach was interferon alfa-2b plus cytosine arabinoside, for 13 months, followed by hydroxyurea plus vincristine. There was improvement of skin lesions, disappearance of eosinophilia and decrease of serum immunoglobulin E, towards normal values.
Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel