Hairy Projections on Non Hairy Cells- A Case Report

• Main Authors: Rhituparna Das, Sriranjan Mukherjee, Moumita Sengupta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited 2021-08-01
• Series: Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research
• Subjects: adult t-cell leukaemia; hair like projections; light microscopy
• Online Access: https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/15289/49864_CE[Ra1]_F[SK]_PF1(MG_SHU)_PFA(MG_KM)_PN(KM).pdf

Adult T-Cell Leukaemia/Lymphoma (ATLL) is a mature T-cell neoplasm. It is caused by human retrovirus Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1(HTLV-1). The neoplastic cells after monoclonal integration begin to express T-cell associated antigens namely CD2, CD3 and CD5. These leukaemic cells are highly pleomorphic in light microscopic appearance and also they have a highly variable clinical presentation ranging from acute to lymphomatous to chronic to smouldering. There is a chance of missed or miss diagnosis due to their morphological and clinical heterogeneity and specialised test like immunophenotyping or flow cytometry is essential for exact categorisation. Authors hereby, report a case of 45-year-old female patient suffering from ATLL whose peripheral smear showed leukaemic cells with unusual hairy projections resembling hairy cell leukaemia posing diagnostic dilemma.