Fever--a manifestation of preleukemia

Abstract

A patient had a preleukemic syndrome in which the major manifestation was a chronic relapsing fever over an 18-month period. A review of the literature shows that fever may be present in a considerable number of patients with preleukemia.

Temperature and host defense.

“…In addition to its presence in infection, fever has been associated with certain solid and lymphoid origin neoplasms (36,128,145,157,162,188) as well as premalignant states (224). It has not been clearly established whether the temperature elevations in such a setting are produced by release of pyrogens from neoplastic tissue or from nornal tissues, stimulated by the neoplasm or by factors released by the neoplasm (32,194).…”