Leukemia patients are at risk for neutropenic enteropathy (NEP) because of the effects of intensified chemotherapy. Medical records of 18 patients having 20 episodes of NEP were reviewed retrospectively. Primary diagnosis was acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 12 and myeloblastic leukemia in 6 cases. According to prognosis, 3 patients were in the standard-risk group, 6 in the moderate-risk group, and 9 in the high-risk group. Ultrasonography detected increased bowel wall thickness in 6 patients. Abdominal x-ray revealed air-fluid levels (n=8), pneumatosis intestinalis, pneumoperitoneum (n=1), and portal venous gas (n=1). All patients received medical treatment, and 1 with unrelieved hematochezia required resection of the cecum. Two cases with appendicitis and another 1 with pneumoperitoneum responded to antibiotics and recovered without surgery. The mortality rate was 30% and related to sepsis-induced complications. The presence of hypokalemia, hypoalbuminemia, metabolic acidosis, and admission to the intensive care unit were more common in patients with mortality (P=0.01). In conclusion, NEP should be kept in mind as a treatable but potentially lethal complication of childhood leukemia. Radiologic findings should be interpreted in conjunction with clinical picture. A conservative approach should be used in all cases but surgery can be considered in some situations.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MPH.0000000000001065DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

neutropenic enteropathy
8
childhood leukemia
8
patients
6
leukemia
5
clinical presentation
4
presentation prognostic
4
prognostic factors
4
factors outcome
4
outcome neutropenic
4
enteropathy childhood
4

Similar Publications

Background: Neutropenic enterocolitis is a serious gastrointestinal complication that can develop in patients undergoing chemotherapy or other immunosuppressive treatments. It is characterized by inflammation and necrosis of the bowel, and most commonly affects the cecum and ascending colon. Although individual case reports have described the features of NE, a comprehensive synthesis of all the published cases is required.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Lower diversity of the gut microbiome prior to allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) correlates with reduced survival after the intervention. Most patients undergoing HCT for a haematological malignancy have previously received intensive chemotherapy, resulting in prolonged neutropenic episodes requiring broad-spectrum antibiotics; use of these has been linked to reduced microbiome diversity. Intestinal microbiota transplant (IMT) is a novel treatment approach that restores this diversity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The correlation between circulating microbes and sepsis as well as proinflammatory diseases is increasingly gaining recognition. However, the detection of microbes' cell-free DNA (cfDNA), which exist at concentrations of a billion times lower than blood proteins, poses a significant challenge for early disease detection. Here, we present Nano mechanics combined with highly sensitive readout sequences to address the challenges of ultralow counts of disease biomarkers, thus enabling robust quantitative monitoring of chronic medical conditions at different stages of human disease progression.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Gas gangrene is a serious infection caused by Clostridium bacteria, often resulting in rapid tissue death and requiring quick, multidisciplinary medical intervention.
  • The case describes a 62-year-old woman with neutropenic fever from chemotherapy for breast cancer, who initially showed signs of cellulitis but deteriorated into septic shock despite antibiotic treatment.
  • After extensive surgical intervention and adjustment of her antibiotics, the patient stabilized and was eventually discharged for rehabilitation, underscoring the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges associated with infections in immunocompromised individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bacteroides ovatus alleviates dysbiotic microbiota-induced graft-versus-host disease.

Cell Host Microbe

September 2024

Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77054, USA; Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA; CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address:

Acute lower gastrointestinal GVHD (aLGI-GVHD) is a serious complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Although the intestinal microbiota is associated with the incidence of aLGI-GVHD, how the intestinal microbiota impacts treatment responses in aLGI-GVHD has not been thoroughly studied. In a cohort of patients with aLGI-GVHD (n = 37), we found that non-response to standard therapy with corticosteroids was associated with prior treatment with carbapenem antibiotics and a disrupted fecal microbiome characterized by reduced abundances of Bacteroides ovatus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!