OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical features, laboratory findings and treatment of infant leukemia.

METHODSA retrospective analysis of the clinical data was performed of the cases with the diagnosis of infant acute leukemia from August 1993 to October 2014 in our hospital.

RESULTSA total of 144 cases of infant leukemia were diagnosed in the defined period, including 83 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 55 myeloid leukemia, 1 hybrid acute leukaemia and 5 with incompatible cytological and immunophenotyping findings. The patients at the age of 9 to 12 months accounted for the largest proportion (38.2%), and 87.5% of the patients had hepatosplenomegaly; Six patients below 6 months old had skin infiltration. In about 1/3 of the patients, the white blood cells count was no greater than 100 × 10⁹ /L. Ninety-five patients had chromosome examinations, which identified chromosome abnormalities in 67 patients, including 18 positive for t(4;11)or t(9;11)or t(11;19), and younger patients were more likely to have chromosome abnormalities. Thirty-seven patients underwent MLL gene detection and 11 of them had positive results; the positive patients had higher rate of chromosome 11 abnormalities than the negative patients. Most of the patients gave up treatments after diagnosis and only 6 patients older than 6 months completed regular chemotherapeutic treatments and were now in complete remission.

CONCLUSIONInfant leukemia is a rare type of leukemia with different clinical features from other types of leukemia. The patients often present with hepatosplenomegaly, high white blood cell counts, MLL gene fusion, and chromosome 11 abnormalities. The prognosis of infant leukemia is not favorable, and the current treatment still relies on chemotherapy.