Pulmonary tuberculosis in a child receiving intensive chemotherapy for acute myeloblastic leukemia.

The authors describe a 6-year-old boy who developed pulmonary tuberculosis during intensive chemotherapy for acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML). The diagnosis of tuberculosis was made by PCR from an open lung biopsy, while a bacterial culture was negative. The patient was treated with triple tuberculostatic drug therapy, followed by two-drug therapy, while receiving maintenance chemotherapy for AML, including thioguanine and cytarabine. Pulmonary infiltrates resolved within 2 months of treatment. However, possibly due to the bone marrow toxicity of the tuberculostatic drugs, the patient tolerated only low doses of cytostatic therapy. The boy is now 14 months off tuberculostatic treatment and 8 months off AML therapy. He is in remission of AML and tuberculosis.