Case Report: Granulocytic Sarcoma of the Parotid in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Case Report and Literature review

Abstract

Granulocytic sarcomas are infrequent, extramedullary malignant occurrences, generally seen with or secondary to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Their association with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is rare and their appearance in parotid gland is sparsely reported in the literature, as per our literature search. In this report, we present an unusual and rare case of imatinib resistant BCR-ABL1 positive secondary granulocytic sarcoma to CML in chronic phase. The rarity of this clinical presentation presents a diagnostic dilemma, which required the pathologist and the clinician to combine a strong clinical suspicion with cytopathological features to diagnose this case, in order to ensure timely therapeutic modifications (shift from imatinib to second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor), considering the improvements in prognosis of imatinib resistant granulocytic sarcomas.