Teaching Cases-American Society of Hematology

Childhood Acute Leukemia – James Harper, MD
Department of Pediatrics, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

I. History	II. Physical Exam	III. Laboratory Data	IV. Pathophysiology
V. Differential Diagnosis	VI. Prognosis/Clinical Course	VII. Teaching Points	VIII. Bibliography

V. DIFFERENTAL DIAGNOSIS

This child’s initial problem was fever without known cause. This is a common differential diagnosis in pediatrics. There are a number of potential causes for fever that must be sorted out in each patient. The first step is to recognize the main categories of disease entities that present with fever.

Four categories of disease entities that present with fever are listed in alphabetical order below. How should they be arranged from most to least common?

Collagen-vascular / Inflammatory
Infection
Malignancy
Undiagnosed

	B, A, C, D
	B, C, A, D
	B, C, D, A
	B, D, A, C

Have a question or comment about the ASH Teaching Cases? Please e-mail webmaster@hematology.org.