Bone marrow necrosis with dyspnea in a patient with malignant lymphoma and plasma levels of thrombomodulin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and D-dimer.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (peripheral T cell, unspecified, clinical stage IIIEA) was diagnosed in a 54-year-old male. He was treated weekly with chemotherapy consisting of pirarubicin hydrochloride, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, vincristine sulfate, etoposide, and prednisolone. After 6 weeks of treatment in a state of partial remission, he exhibited sudden dyspnea, chest pain, fever, and drowsiness. The patient had received 100 microg/day of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) for 6 days before the onset. Laboratory data showed an elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, leukoerythroblastosis in the peripheral blood, and no decrease in the serum haptoglobin level. There were no findings of acute myocardial infarction or pulmonary thromboembolism. Bone marrow specimen showed the characteristic features of necrosis without any signs of the involvement of lymphoma cells. No indications of infections were found. This patient was diagnosed as having bone marrow necrosis (BMN) during the recovery phase of bone marrow with G-CSF treatment after chemotherapy for malignant lymphoma. After conservative therapy, inhalation of oxygen and stopping the administration of G-CSF, all clinical symptoms subsided except that the elevation of LDH continued for 1 month. The plasma level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) was high just after the onset of BMN. The thrombomodulin (TM) level was high just before the onset of BMN and continued to be high for 2 weeks. Cross-linked fibrin degradation products (D-dimer) were also high just after the onset of BMN and continued to be high for 3 weeks after the onset. Although dyspnea is a rare symptom of BMN, it is important to rule out in BMN during the recovery phase of bone marrow with G-CSF treatment after chemotherapy for malignant lymphoma. Activated neutrophils in the small vessels of the lung by G-CSF and microthrombi, suggested by the elevation of D-dimer, may participate in the onset of dyspnea, which is a rare symptom of the onset of BMN. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.