Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect
Pleuropericarditis, obliterative bronchiolitis and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
  1. Amin Alousi1,
  2. Somnath Ghosh2,
  3. David Rice2,3,
  4. Cesar Moran4,
  5. John T Manning4,
  6. Cesar Iliescu5,
  7. Sharon Hymes6,
  8. Stella Kim7,
  9. Lara Bashoura2,
  10. Steven Kornblau1,
  11. Burton F Dickey2
  1. 1Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  2. 2Department of Pulmonary Medicine, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  3. 3Department of Thoracic Surgery, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  4. 4Department of Pathology, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  5. 5Department of Cardiology, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  6. 6Department of Dermatology, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  7. 7Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
  1. Correspondence to Amin Alousi; aalousi{at}mdanderson.org

Summary

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a common complication of allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation, with pulmonary involvement occurring in 5–10% of cases. Obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) is recognised as a diagnostic manifestation of chronic GVHD, whereas lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis (LIP) has been reported but is not considered diagnostic, and pleuritis is not clearly associated. The authors describe a transplant patient who simultaneously manifested three distinct pulmonary processes: OB, patchy LIP and pleuropericarditis. The onset of these entities along with other manifestations of chronic GVHD, their resolution with increased immunosuppression and their recurrence upon tapering support all three entities as manifestations of GVHD in the lungs.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.