Acute leukemia can present with a wide range of symptoms and with no classic osseous
findings on radiographs. Recognizing subtle imaging abnormalities and raising the
possibility of a lymphoproliferative or hematologic pathology may facilitate early
diagnosis. Described here is a case of a 4-year-old with back pain that was found
to have acute lymphoblastic leukemia with diffuse loss of vertebral body height on
plain film radiographs, and with prominent discs, and diffusely abnormal marrow signal
on magnetic resonance imaging.
Keywords
acute lymphoblastic leukemia - vertebral body height loss - pediatric bone marrow
signal abnormalities
