Rhabdomyosarcoma masquerading as acute leukemia with lymphoid phenotype expression: A diagnostic trap

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) can mimic acute leukemia both clinically and morphologically and can express a few surface markers characteristic of leukemic blasts. We report a case of a 21-year-old male patient who presented with pancytopenia. Bone marrow studies showed the atypical cells resembling blasts, expressing CD19 on flow cytometry and desmin by immunocytochemistry in bone marrow aspirate smears. A diagnosis of RMS infiltrating the bone marrow was made.