Leukemia cutis

Patients with leukemia may show involvement of the skin. This skin involvement can be due to infiltration of skin by leukemic cells or it may be a part of nonspecific cutaneous manifestations. Leukemia cutis is the infiltration of neoplastic leucocytes or their precursors into the skin resulting in extensive clinical manifestations. Described mostly in acute myeloid leukemia and acute myelocytic monocytic leukemia, it is rare in chronic myeloid leukemia and is seen mostly during the blast crises. Its presence signals poor prognosis.