Highlights
What is the new aspect of your work? Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare
disease and bone lesions are very unusual at diagnosis. We describe two
typical HCL patients, who present at diagnosis bone lesions: right
frontal tumefaction above the eyebrow and right femoral localization,
respectively. In both cases, the bone marrow infiltration was moderate
and the bone biopsies showed a typical infiltration with hairy cells.
What is the central finding of your work? 18F-FDG
PET/CT could be a useful tool for the HCL diagnosis by guiding the bone
biopsy and for the follow-up of the patients treated by cladribine (CDA)
and rituximab (R).
What is (or could be) the specific clinical relevance of your work? The
detection of bone lesions is crucial in HCL and could require18F-FDG PET/CT. The bone marrow infiltration by hairy
cells could be moderate, requiring bone biopsies. The association CDA
plus R could be very effective, allowing a complete remission (CR) in
both cases with a durable CR in one case reaching more than 8 years.