Priapism at the onset of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a 12-year-old child

Abstract

   Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in the clinical practice of pediatric oncology/hematology. At the onset of the disease, patients can develop such a life-threatening complication as hyperleukocytosis with leukostasis that can manifest in many different ways, including ischemic priapism, an extremely rare type of leukostasis in children with ALL. Apart from death associated with hyperleukocytosis caused by the underlying disease, inadequate and poorly timed specific therapy and supportive care can lead to erectile dysfunction, impotence or intermittent priapism in the future. In this article, we report an extremely rare clinical case of ischemic priapism in a 12-year-old patient that developed at the onset of ALL and was the only manifestation of the disease as well as the reason for admission to hospital. The patient's parents gave consent to the use of their child's data, including photographs, for research purposes and in publications. Here, we analyzed special aspects of this complication, described modern treatment strategies and provided an international literature review. We emphasize the importance of urgent care delivery due to the critical prognostic significance of timely and adequate treatment provided by a multidisciplinary team.