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A 54-year-old man with chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis (CIMF) underwent RIST. His clinical course had been uneventful until day 60, when splenomegaly reappeared. Hepatic dysfunction developed on day 75. Recipient-type hematopoiesis increased to 51% on day 90. After rapid tapering of cyclosporin, serum levels of AST and ALP normalized in parallel with recovery of complete chimerism on day 134. Yet, jaundice progressed. He died of liver failure on day 176. Postmortem examination revealed neither GVHD nor VOD. Graft rejection following RIST for CIMF may lead to fatal hepatic damage through extramedullary hematopoiesis in the liver or cytokine-mediated immune dysregulations.

A 52-year-old man underwent non-myeloablative stem cell transplantation from his HLA identical sister for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma. On day 0, he developed a high-grade fever, watery diarrhea and vesicles scattered on the skin. Well experienced dermatologists diagnosed these lesions as VZV reactivation. High dose antiviral agents were ineffective, and Fusarium solani was cultured from his stool and sputum. Systemic fusariosis progressed rapidly and he died of multiorgan failure on day 18. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between viral and fungal blisters based on macroscopic examinations. We recommend early histopathological examination of the skin, when HSCT recipients develop vesicles.

A 59-year-old man with liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis B virus infection received non-myeloablative stem-cell transplantation (NST) for the treatment of adult T-cell lymphoma. The preparative regimen consisted of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine. While the pharmacokinetics of these drugs was altered in this patient, his clinical course was uneventful without the development of severe hepatic damage. Complete remission was achieved on day 56. Although he finally died of hemorrhage from esophageal varices on day 68, this case suggests that ATL may be a good candidate for allogeneic HSCT, and that NST may be feasible for patients with hepatic impairment.

Invasive aspergillosis is a common form of fungal infection in patients with hematological malignancies. Because Aspergillus species have angioinvasive properties, they frequently disseminate from the lung to a variety of organs via hematogenous spread. Extra-pulmonary involvement occurs at an advanced stage of invasive aspergillosis, and represents an ominous sign. However, few reports have been published on extra-pulmonary involvement in cases of aspergillosis. Its clinical features have not been fully clarified. We experienced a patient who developed thyrotoxicosis and fatal airway obstruction caused by invasive aspergillosis of the thyroid. A 26-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. During myelosuppression following the chemotherapy, he developed cervical swelling and hyperthyroidism. We suspected lymphoma infiltration to the thyroid, and irradiated it with a total of 26 Gy. However, the cervical lesion enlarged rapidly, and he complained of wheezing and dyspnea. We underwent immediate tracheostomy to secure the airway, but he died. Autopsy findings were striking. Extensive necrosis with diffuse infiltration of Aspergillus hyphae was observed in the thyroid gland. Necrotic tissues of the thyroid protruded into the tracheal lumen, causing airway obstruction. This case demonstrated that invasive aspergillosis of the thyroid can lead to medical emergency.

We retrospectively analyzed data of 47 patients aged 60 years or older, hospitalized in our institution with the diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), and searched for prognostic factors. Induction with anthracyclines significantly correlated with better complete remission (CR) rate (P = 0.0016) and overall survival (OS) (P < 0.001). Another factor significantly affecting CR rate was higher age (> 70 years) (P = 0.042). Therapy-non-related factors predictive for shorter OS in univariate analyses were age older than 70 years (P = 0.003), percentage of blasts in bone marrow more than 80% (P = 0.048), serum lactate dehydrogenase level higher than 250 U l(-1) (P = 0.032). In stepwise cox proportional hazard regression model, all the four factors predictive for poor OS remained to be independently and significantly prognostic for shorter OS. Only two patients receiving anthracyclines died within 30 days and the frequency was not different from that in patients not receiving anthracyclines. The use of anthracyclines as induction therapy is recommended even in the elderly patients.

We describe a patient who underwent successful BMT from her sibling for the treatment of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Pre-transplant examination of the donor revealed oligoclonal integration of HTLV-I proviruses within the germ line, and our concern was that clinical sequelae of HLTV-I infection might become evident in the setting of post-transplant immunosuppression. However, the patient has been in complete remission for 14 months after transplantation, and no clonality of HTLV-I provirus was detected in the peripheral blood cells using southern blotting analysis. Our experience supports the possibility of transplantation from HTLV-I positive donors.

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase reactant of inflammation. We evaluated the clinical value of serial measurement of CRP in neutropenic patients. CRP was shown to be useful to monitor the response to therapy for febrile episodes in neutropenia. However, we failed to show statistically significant differences in CRP levels between febrile episodes with or without clinically documented infection (p= 0.10) and with or without bacteremia (p = 0.55). Also, we could not predict febrile episodes within three days by the elevation of CRP value. The area under receiver-operating characteristic curve depicting the relationship between CRP levels and forthcoming febrile episodes was only 0.60. In conclusion, serial measurement of CRP was considered to be not useful to predict fever within three days, or to differentiate the types of infection.

Multiple myeloma is characterized by the accumulation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow and rarely cured by chemotherapy. Villunger et al. showed that the neoplastic plasma cells express Fas ligand (FasL), which transmits a signal of apoptosis upon ligation to Fas, and suggested that the FasL suppresses the T-cells activated against malignant cells, resulting in escape from tumour immunity. We examined serum soluble FasL (sFasL) levels in 35 multiple myeloma patients to evaluate the correlation between sFasL levels and clinical characteristics. The serum sFasL levels were not affected by the disease status, serum monoclonal protein levels, or other prognostic factors. We could not determine whether the expression of FasL is involved in the poor clinical course of the disease.

Bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients have risk factors for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) including venous stasis caused by immobilization in the sterile unit, vessel wall damage caused by preparative regimen or indwelling catheters, and hypercoagulability caused by decreased natural anticoagulants. We successfully treated a patient who developed massive DVT in the superior vena cava after BMT with anticoagulation and the use of temporary vena caval filters. Considering the delayed complications, permanent filter is not appropriate for BMT recipients, because the risk factors for DVT associated with BMT are transient. We considered that temporary vena caval filter is a safe and useful device to prevent pulmonary embolism after DVT in BMT recipients.

Oral complications occur frequently after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Some of them are caused by regimen-related toxicity of the preparative regimen, and others by infections. In addition, oral tissues are targets of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Oral granulomatous lesions are not a common complication after BMT, and are especially rare on the tongue. Such rare lesions reported in the literature, developed late after BMT with oral chronic GVHD. We present here a patient who developed pyogenic granuloma of the tongue early after allogeneic BMT done for multiple myeloma. Regimen-related mucositis, oral acute GVHD, the administration of cyclosporine A, and the preexisting macroglossia might be responsible for the formation of granuloma.

Interleukin 2 receptor is expressed not only on the surface of activated T or B lymphocytes, but also on certain lymphoid malignancies. The receptor is released from the cell membrane as soluble form (sIL-2R). Serum sIL-2R level is a sensitive and quantitative marker of circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cell activation or specific tumor cell growth including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). However, the relevance of serum sIL-2R levels relating to clinical outcome in adult patients with NHL remains uncertain. Therefore, we investigated the serial serum sIL-2R levels in 28 untreated patients with NHL to evaluate its correlation with clinical characteristics. High serum sIL-2R level (>1000 U/ml) at diagnosis was associated with a high incidence of treatment failure (p=0.03) and poor overall survival (p=0.057). The serum sIL-2R levels decreased significantly after achieving complete remission (p=0.003). Further larger studies are required to evaluate whether serum sIL-2R level is an independent prognostic factor or not. However, adding this parameter to those already employed in the International Prognostic Index would perhaps provide a better prognostic index for adult patients with NHL.