Fulminant leukemic polyradiculoneuropathy in a case of B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia. A clinicopathologic report.

A 52 year old man with a 10-month history of B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (PLL) died of an apparent acute fulminant polyradiculoneuropathy, a condition generally attributed to paraneoplastic complication. The pathologic examination disclosed diffuse leukemic infiltrations of the peripheral nervous system. It is suggested that this particularly aggressive form of B-cell chronic prolymphocytic leukemia presented a constellation of features that promoted the invasion of the peripheral nervous system by way of the bloodstream and may explain the unusual clinical presentation.