Esophageal adenocarcinoma with leukemoid reaction: a case report.

BACKGROUND

Leukemoid reaction (LR) is defined as a reactive leucocytosis with WBC counts exceeding 50,000/mm3, and a significant increase in early neutrophil precursors. LR may be a paraneoplastic manifestation of various malignant tumors. Tumor-related LR is a kind of neoplastic syndrome, unrelated to an infection or other diseases.

CASE PRESENTATION: A 74-year-old male visited a local doctor with a 20-day history of progressive dysphagia. The complete blood count revealed leucocytosis. Bone marrow aspirates and a biopsy confirmed LR and excluded chronic myelogenous leukemia. Following radical esophagectomy for an adenocarcinoma the WBC counts successively decreased to 10,450/mm3 and 8670/mm3 within 1 week and 1 month, respectively.

CONCLUSION

We report a rare case of esophageal adenocarcinoma complicated with excessive leucocytosis caused by paraneoplastic LR; we also present a review of literature and an investigation of the clinical features. To our knowledge, this is the first report of LR associated with esophageal adenocarcinoma.