LEUKEMIC CHANGES OF THE GASTRO-INTESTINAL TRACT

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Abstract
In leukemia, the gastro-intestinal tract has received but little attention. Symptoms referable to it are usually interpreted on the basis of the coexistent cachexia and anemia. Roentgen studies are few (Holmes, Dresser and Camp1), and in most instances the pathologic changes are discovered only at autopsy. Involvement of the gastro-intestinal tract by the leukemic process is not only of theoretical, but also of practical, interest, as gastro-intestinal leukemia may dominate the clinical picture. Even emergency operations may be found necessary when intussusception or perforation occurs. Fourteen cases of leukemia, eleven myelogenous and three lymphatic, were studied with particular reference to the gastro-intestinal changes. One, a case of chronic lymphatic leukemia, will be presented in detail because of features of great rarity. The remaining cases will be analyzed in the general comment and review of the literature. REPORT OF A CASE History. —W. W., a white man, aged 50, entered the