Emergence of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia During Admission for COVID-19: Cause or Coincidence?

Prachi Saluja; Nitesh Gautam; Fnu Amisha; Mazin Safar; Thaddeus Bartter

doi:10.7759/cureus.23470

Emergence of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia During Admission for COVID-19: Cause or Coincidence?

Cureus. 2022 Mar 24;14(3):e23470. doi: 10.7759/cureus.23470. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Authors

Prachi Saluja¹, Nitesh Gautam¹, Fnu Amisha¹, Mazin Safar², Thaddeus Bartter³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA.
² Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA.
³ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA.

Abstract

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia affecting the western adult population. While CLL is known to be a risk factor for morbidity and mortality from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), COVID-19 has not been shown to be a risk factor for the development of CLL. We report a case of a 55-year-old man who presented with COVID-19 pneumonia and developed overt CLL during hospitalization. Four other cases were culled from the literature. We discuss mechanistic possibilities for the unmasking of CLL in susceptible individuals with COVID-19.

Keywords: chronic lymphocytic leukemia (cll); covid-19; covid-19 pneumonia; hemato-oncology; pneumonia; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus -2 (sars-cov-2).

Publication types

Case Reports