1/55. Isolated central nervous system hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: case report. OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: The first case of histologically proven hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) isolated to the central nervous system (CNS) is reported. HLH affecting the CNS mimics several neurological disorders and may be misdiagnosed. The diagnostic and therapeutic problems of this disease are discussed. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 5-year-old girl with a 2-month history of right hemiparesis. The initial magnetic resonance imaging scan mimicked the appearance of malignant glioma or cerebral infarction. By use of neuroimaging alone, it was extremely difficult to reach an appropriate diagnosis. INTERVENTION: Pathological examination of a surgical specimen of the lesion revealed histological characteristics typical of HLH. Because of the absence of both physical and blood chemical findings of systemic HLH, the patient was diagnosed as having HLH isolated in the CNS without systemic HLH. radiotherapy with corticosteroid administration led to complete resolution of the CNS lesions, but the duration of remission was only 3 months. The patient died secondary to refractory progression of the CNS lesion. CONCLUSION: radiotherapy with corticosteroid administration led to a complete resolution of the lesions, although for only a transitory remission. Although HLH is extremely rare, the existence of this disease isolated in the CNS should be documented, and further case accumulation and therapeutic investigations are needed to clarify the pathophysiological characteristics of this disease. ( info) |
2/55. Cyclosporin neurotoxicity with Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome. In September 2000, a 22-year-old female was admitted to our hospital due to high grade fever, liver enzymes elevation and pancytopenia. Bone marrow aspiration was performed, and hemophagocytosis was present. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) dna was positive in her peripheral blood, and we diagnosed the case as EBV-associated hemophagocytic syndrome (EB-VAHS) after excluding other malignancies. The initial therapy including etoposide and dexamethasone was started. As severe leukocytopenia developed, etoposide was stopped and cyclosporin A (CsA) was administered continuously. Four days after administration of CsA, she developed convulsive seizures with loss of consciousness. An MRI demonstrated decreased signal with T1-weighting and high signal with T2-weighting in the subcortical white matter including the posterior lobe. We stopped CsA infusion, and glycerol was administered. Soon the symptom disappeared. When patients developed an episode of convulsive seizure, other diagnostic possibilities were central nervous system (CNS) involvement of hemophagocytosis, EBV encephalitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). CsA neurotoxicity must be considered even in the case of EB-VAHS with administration of CsA. As previously reported, Fluid-attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) imaging improved diagnostic confidence and conspicuity of the T2 hyper intense lesions of CsA neurotoxicity, as well as tacrolimus encephalopathy, typically in the subcortical white matter.Key words; Cyclosporin neurotoxicity; Epstein-Barr virus associated-Hemophagocytic syndrome; Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI). ( info) |
| Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is a hypercytokinemia caused by activated T lymphocytes and macrophages in immunologically compromised patients. We report a 37-year-old female who was diagnosed with HPS after undergoing living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for fulminant liver failure of unknown etiology. After liver transplantation, recipients with pancytopenia should be tested for serum ferritin. When the serum ferritin is abnormal, the bone marrow should be biopsied to screen for HPS as soon as possible. If the condition is caught early and promptly treated, the outcome of this devastating condition might be improved. In addition, HPS should be ruled out in LDLT candidates with acute liver failure before their operations. ( info) |
4/55. Non-fatal haemophagocytic syndrome in an elderly patient. A frail 78-year-old man presented with lethargy, fever, splenomegaly and pancytopenia. Bone marrow aspirate showed marked haemophagocytosis. A diagnosis of haemophagocytic syndrome secondary to diffuse splenic large B-cell lymphoma was eventually made. Treatment with laparascopic splenectomy was successful. Secondary haemophagocytic syndrome is a rare complication of many common conditions, and is fatal if untreated. A brief literature review is included. ( info) |
5/55. Aggressive Lennert's lymphoma: report of three cases in comparison to non-aggressive Lennert's lymphoma. The present article describes three cases of Lennert's lymphoma exhibiting aggressive clinical courses. These cases were accompanied by disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) or hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS). These cases were compared to non-aggressive type of Lennert's lymphoma. Of the three cases, two demonstrated involvement of the liver and the other possessed bone marrow involvement. In one patient, while a lymph node biopsy revealed Lennert's lymphoma histologically, a liver biopsy obtained 2 months later revealed a high-grade large cell cytotoxic T-cell lymphoma. Two of these cases showed HPS and the other exhibited DIC. All patients died within 1 year of diagnosis, with the shortest survival period being 1.5 months. Immunohistochemically, lymphoma cells were CD8 , CD4-, granzyme B , and T-cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) , showing a cytotoxic T-cell phenotype. Two cases demonstrated positive reactivity for Epstein-Barr virus in lymphoma cells by in situ hybridization. These cases were compared with eight cases of non-aggressive Lennert's lymphoma. In comparison to non-aggressive disease, these three cases displayed a higher percentage of Ki-67-positive cells. In conclusion it was found that a subset of Lennert's lymphoma cases share common features with high-grade cytotoxic T-cell lymphoma, indicating that Lennert's lymphoma may be part of the spectrum of cytotoxic T-cell lymphoma. ( info) |
6/55. Familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: survival of a premature twin with immuno-chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation from an HLA-identical unrelated donor. We describe a premature twin born at 30 wk of gestational age, affected with familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Two different mutations were identified in his dna: one inherited from the mother and one from the father. Haemophagocytosis had been confirmed in his twin brother, who died soon after birth, as well as in the re-evaluation of the autopsy of his older sister, who died 1 y earlier. At 26 d of age, chemotherapy and immune-suppressive treatment were started according to the HLH-94 protocol. At 6 mo of age, a bone marrow transplant from an HLA-identical, unrelated volunteer was performed. Now at 32 mo of age, the infant is healthy and without signs of graft-versus-host disease. CONCLUSION: This case report shows that immuno-chemotherapy and allogenic bone marrow transplant are feasible even in premature infants affected with familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, which should be ruled out in unknown bleeding disorders of neonates. ( info) |
7/55. Cobalamin C disease presenting with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Cobalamin C disease is a rare genetic condition resulting in methylmalonic aciduria, homocystinuria, and hematologic abnormalities. Clinical characteristics include ophthalmologic findings and neurological abnormalities, such as microcephaly, seizure, and mental retardation. The authors report on a 4-month-old patient initially diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), who was later diagnosed with cobalamin C disease. ( info) |
8/55. gastric antral vascular ectasia in 2-yr-old girl undergoing unrelated cord blood stem cell transplantation. Gastrointestinal bleeding is a common complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and is often related to acute graft-vs.-host disease (aGVHD). gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE), recently recognized as a complication after HSCT, is a rare cause of severe gastrointestinal bleeding, which has only been reported in adult patients so far. We report a 2-yr-old girl who developed GAVE after unrelated cord blood stem cell transplantation (CBSCT) as treatment of intractable Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH). Her conditioning regimen for CBSCT consisted of etoposide, busulfan, and cyclophosphamide. She was doing well after CBSCT without recurrence and developed only grade I aGVHD. She suddenly developed coffee ground emesis, tarry stools and severe anemia 76 days after CBSCT. As antacids were ineffective, esophagogastroduodenoscopy was performed and revealed GAVE on day 97. Endoscopic coagulation therapy was performed twice; subsequently, she needed no further transfusions and there was no clinical recurrence of GAVE. ( info) |
9/55. Haemophagocytic syndrome associated with hepatitis-B virus infection responding to etoposide. Haemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) secondary to viral infections usually has a variable course and can be life-threatening. We report a 53-year-old male patient who presented with fever, hepatosplenomegaly and pancytopenia. He had deranged liver function, abnormal clotting and markedly elevated serum ferritin. Bone marrow biopsy showed prominent haemophagocytosis. The patient was investigated thoroughly and found to have evidence of chronic hepatitis b-virus (HBV) infection by serological tests and liver biopsy. Other conditions associated with HPS such as lymphoma, malignancy and other viral or bacterial infections were not present. The patient did not respond to steroids, intravenous immunoglobulins or cyclosporin but responded to etoposide and became apyrexial. He also became HBV negative on lamivudine. The patient died of infection later on but there was no evidence of recurrence of HPS. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case report of HPS associated with isolated HBV infection. ( info) |
10/55. Aggressive NK-cell leukaemia associated with reactive haemophagocytic syndrome. We report a case of aggressive NK-cell leukaemia associated with reactive haemophagocytic syndrome in a 29-year-old Korean woman who had several small purpuric patches on both thighs. She also had high fever. Laboratory tests revealed pancytopenia and deranged liver function, and atypical lymphocytes containing toxic granules were detected from peripheral blood and bone marrow. The bone marrow examination showed diffuse histiocytic proliferation with several haemophagocytic macrophages, suggesting an associated reactive haemophagocytic syndrome. skin biopsy from her thigh lesion demonstrated atypical CD56 lymphoid cellular infiltrates with angiocentric pattern, and in situ hybridization test for Epstein-Barr virus was positive. Although we treated her with chemotherapy, she died 1 month later. ( info) |