Hairy cell leukemia overview
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Hairy cell leukemia is a mature B cell neoplasm. It is usually classified as a sub-type of chronic lymphoid leukemia for convenience. It is uncommon, representing about 2% of all leukemias, or less than a total of 2000 new cases diagnosed each year in the North America and Western Europe combined.
Originally known as histiocytic leukemia, malignant reticulosis, or lymphoid myelofibrosis in publications dating back to the 1920s, this disease was formally named leukemic reticuloendotheliosis and its characterization significantly advanced by Bertha Bouroncle, M.D., and her colleagues at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1958. Its common name, which was coined in 1966[1], is derived from the appearance of the cells under a microscope.