A unique, complex variant philadelphia chromosome translocation in a patient with typical chronic myelogenous leukemia.

The Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome [der(22) t(9;22)(q34;q11)] is the characteristic chromosomal abnormality found in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This chromosome has been reported in patients with other chromosomal abnormalities. In this study, we describe a patient with hematologically typical chronic-phase CML with an unusual and complex translocation involving chromosomes 9, 11, and 22. These complex translocations were identified by G-banded conventional cytogenetics and confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using whole chromosome painting probes (wcp). To the best of our knowledge, these are unique translocations involving the short and the long arms of chromosome 9 in 4 different translocations with the short arm of chromosome 11 and the long arm of chromosome 22.