Loading...
These authors reviewed the results of skin biopsies in 195 patients with leukemia, new onset skin lesions, and suspected infection performed over a 4-year period at one leukemia center. They excluded bone marrow transplant recipients and those with clinically suspected secondary cutaneous malignancy.
Infection was diagnosed on biopsy in 76 patients (39%), including 36 bacterial, 30 fungal, 5 mixed, 4 viral, and 1 atypical mycobacterial infection. Among the 119 patients without infection, leukemia cutis was the most frequent condition, followed by Sweet syndrome and drug eruptions. Predictors of an infectious cause included bacteremia, fungemia, neutropenia, and lymphopenia, as well as having limited versus widespread disease. The researchers…