Chronic myeloid leukemia with myelopathy: Rare complication of common malignancy

Myelopathy due to a spinal cord epidural mass is an extremely rare presentation of hematological malignancies. We report a case of 50-year-old male who was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia 2 years back and was on imatinib. He presented with paraplegia due to spinal epidural mass likely chloroma. Chloroma or granulocytic sarcoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of an epidural mass in patients with hematological malignancy. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a common chronic myeloproliferative disorder, both bleeding and thrombosis occur less frequently during stable phase. Our patient presented with paraplegia with an epidural mass likely chloroma which settled after emergent treatment, receiving radiotherapy and steroids. We believe this is the first case report of myelopathy in a patient of previously diagnosed CML in stable phase showing marked improvement after treatment.