Some Observations Concerning Leukemia in Twins

Abstract

The first report of leukemia occurring in both members of a twin pair was by Seigel in 1928. Since this time many more case reports and epidemiologic studies have appeared in the literature. In recent years, however, published reports on leukemia in twins have been less common. This waning interest is certainly not due to overstudy, since even the most basic questions concerning the occurrence of leukemia in twins have yet to be definitively answered. Apparently, research on this subject is at an impasse due to the difficulty of obtaining study populations and the lack of substantial experimental data in the records of the few twin registries in existence. This report represents an update on the observations and comments on this subject begun in 1970 by Keith and Brown [4].