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Background: Hyperferritinemic syndromes are systemic inflammatory disorders characterized by a dysfunctional immune response, which leads to excessive activation of the monocyte-macrophage system with hypercytokinemia and may pursue a rapidly fatal course., Case Presentation: We describe two patients of 11 and 9 years of age with hyperferritinemic syndromes, one with impending macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and one with overt MAS, who were refractory or intolerant to conventional therapies, but improved dramatically with canakinumab., Conclusions: Our report indicates that canakinumab may be efficacious in the management of hyperferritinemic syndromes, including MAS.

Hyperferritinemic syndrome represents a common nosological classification for systemic inflammatory syndromes, including Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome, in which hyperferritinemia (> 500 ng/mL) is present. Recent studies suggest that in this syndrome, ferritin is more than a passive marker of inflammation, playing an active role in the process. We present the case of a 74-year-old female patient with elevated serum ferritin levels (above 1000 ng/mL), along with an intense inflammatory syndrome, non-immune thrombotic microangiopathy, and multisystem involvement (pulmonary, cardiac, hepatic, pancreatic, neurological and renal changes), outlining the picture of a hyperferritinemic syndrome that is hard to classify otherwise. This underlines the necessity for diagnostic and classification criteria for this pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of extreme hyperferritinemia and its association with certain diagnoses and prognoses are not well characterized. We performed a retrospective analysis of adult patients with at least one total serum ferritin (TSF) measurement ≥ 5000 µg/L over 2 years, in three university hospitals. Conditions associated with hyperferritinemia were collected, and patients were classified into 10 etiological groups. Intensive care unit (ICU) transfer and mortality rates were recorded. A total of 495 patients were identified, of which 56% had a TSF level between 5000 and 10,000 µg/L. There were multiple underlying causes in 81% of the patients. The most common causes were infections (38%), hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH, 18%), and acute hepatitis (14%). For TSF levels > 10,000 µg/L, there were no solid cancer or hematological malignancy without another cause of hyperferritinemia. Isolated iron-overload syndromes never exceeded TSF levels > 15,000 µg/L. Extreme hyperferritinemia (TSF levels > 25,000 µg/L) was associated with only four causes: HLH, infections, acute hepatitis and cytokine release syndromes. A total of 32% of patients were transferred to an ICU, and 28% died. Both ICU transfer rate and mortality were statistically associated with ferritin levels. An optimized threshold of 13,405 μg/L was the best predictor for the diagnosis of HLH, with a sensitivity of 76.4% and a specificity of 79.3%. Hyperferritinemia reflects a variety of conditions, but only four causes are associated with extreme hyperferritinemia, in which HLH and acute hepatitis are the most common. Extreme hyperferritinemia has a poor prognosis with increased mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Major hyperferritinemia is a rare feature in clinical laboratories associated with a wide variety of disorders, including hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). The diagnosis of HLH is based on clinical and biological criteria, such as those proposed by the Histiocyte Society. However, several of these criteria are not relevant in the specific setting of hematologic malignancies. Materials and methods: A 69-year-old male was treated for an acute myeloid leukaemia. On day 15 after the start of chemotherapy, he developed severe sepsis with high fever, low blood pressure and hepatosplenomegaly. Results: Blood tests were marked by extreme hyperferritinemia (191,000 μg/L, reference range: 26-388 μg/L) with increased C-reactive protein (87.0 mg/L) and procalcitonin (1.94 μg/L) and aspartate aminotransferase (499 U/L 37 °C) in the setting of chemotherapy-induced aplasia. This unusual extreme ferritinemia led to suspect HLH triggered by an invasive infection. Under intensive treatment, the clinical status improved and ferritin levels significantly decreased. Conclusions: The diagnosis of HLH is usually based on clinical and biological criteria, mainly fever, splenomegaly, cytopenias, hypertriglyceridemia, hypofibrinogenemia, hemophagocytosis and hyperferritinemia. In this patient, the diagnosis of HLH was challenging because several criteria, such as hypertriglyceridemia, hemophagocytosis and hypofibrinogenemia, were absent. In addition, some criteria of HLH are not relevant in the setting of hematologic malignancy, in which fever, splenomegaly, cytopenias and elevated lactate dehydrogenase are commonly observed independently of HLH. This unusual case of extremely high ferritinemia emphasizes the important weight of the ferritin level for the diagnosis of HLH in adult patients in the setting of hematologic malignancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]