Acute Monocytic Leukæmia in Indians

agreements regarding the origin of monocytes, and from the use of different names by various authorities to indicate this condition. At the present time, the monocytes are regarded as an independent line of cells, distinct from granulocytes and lymphocytes, and monocytic leukaemia is accepted as a clinical and haematological entity, though a considerable degree of disagreement in nomenclature still remains, which is largely dependent on the difference of opinion regarding the relation of the monocyte to the reticuloendothelial system." Monocytic leukaemia is much less common than the myeloid and the lymphatic varieties. Rosenthal and Harris (Forkner, 1938) in an analysis of 455 cases of leukaemia found 1.5 per cent cases to be acute and 0.4 per cent chronic monocytic leukaemia. The actual incidence of monocytic leukaemia is difficult to estimate, as most of the cases are acute and are very often unrecognized or confused with other types of leukaemia. Forkner (1939) suggests that about 5 to 15 per cent of acute leukaemia are monocytic in type. Almost all cases of monocytic leukaemia reported are from the white races; only two cases have been reported in Chinese and one suspicious case in an Indian by Wright (Forkner, 1938). Within a period of 15 months (1937-39) we encountered three cases that on haematological investigation proved to be acute monocytic leukaemia, and recently a fourth such case came under our observation : all the patients were Indians. The notes of one of the cases were given in the Annual Report of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, 1937. The notes