Pulmonary intravascular lymphomatosis: presentation with dyspnea and air trapping.

Intravascular lymphomatosis (IVL) is a rare lymphoid neoplasm that is typically of B-cell lineage and characterized by proliferation of malignant cells within small arterioles, capillaries, and venules. We report a patient with pulmonary IVL who presented clinically with progressive dyspnea, fever, and a dry cough. Pulmonary function tests revealed a marked decrease in diffusion capacity with airflow obstruction and severe air trapping. High-resolution CT (HRCT) of the chest with inspiratory and expiratory images revealed mosaic attenuation consistent with air trapping. Transbronchial biopsies revealed the diagnosis of IVL with capillary expansion in the alveolar and peribronchiolar interstitial tissue. IVL should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a patient with an interstitial lung disease, air trapping on pulmonary function tests, and mosaic attenuation on HRCT. Transbronchial biopsies may be the initial diagnostic procedure of choice.

Ursodiol prophylaxis against hepatic complications of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic complications are a major cause of illness and death after bone marrow transplantation. OBJECTIVE: To confirm the results of a pilot study that indicated that ursodiol prophylaxis could reduce the incidence of veno-occlusive disease of the liver. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. SETTING: Tertiary care teaching hospital. PATIENTS: 67 consecutive patients undergoing transplantation with allogeneic bone marrow (donated by a relative) in whom busulfan plus cyclophosphamide was used as the preparative regimen and cyclosporine plus methotrexate was used to prevent graft-versus-host disease. INTERVENTION: Before the preparative regimen was started, patients were randomly assigned to receive ursodiol, 300 mg twice daily (or 300 mg in the morning and 600 mg in the evening if body weight was > 90 kg), or placebo. MEASUREMENTS: Patients were prospectively evaluated for the clinical diagnosis of veno-occlusive disease, the occurrence of acute graft-versus-host disease, and survival. RESULTS: The incidence of veno-occlusive disease was 40% (13 of 32 patients) in placebo recipients and 15% (5 of 34 patients) in ursodiol recipients (P = 0.03). Assignment to placebo was the only pretransplantation characteristic that predicted the development of veno-occlusive disease. The most significant predictor of 100-day mortality was the diagnosis of veno-occlusive disease. The difference in actuarial risk for hematologic relapse in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia and nonhepatic toxicities between the two groups was not statistically significant (13% in the ursodiol group and 20% in the placebo group; P > 0.2). CONCLUSION: Ursodiol prophylaxis seemed to decrease the incidence of hepatic complications after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in patients who received a preparative regimen with busulfan plus cyclophosphamide.

Army and Air Force leadership in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial.

Prostate cancer is now the most common solid tumor in men in the United States. Although the current public health approach to this disease is early diagnosis and treatment, investigations are also focusing on the possibility of disease prevention. The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, begun in 1993, has completed recruitment of 18,000 men who will be randomized to receive either finasteride or placebo to determine if finasteride can prevent the development of this disease. Both Army and Air Force institutions are participating in this trial, with four Department of Defense institutions contributing over 10% of the patients randomized. The results of this study may have a major impact on active duty personnel for whom prevention of prostate cancer may become possible.

Hypernatremia due to repeated doses of charcoal-sorbitol.

Hypernatremic dehydration due to unreplaced stool water losses often complicates the use of the osmotic cathartic lactulose in the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy. Sorbitol, another osmotic cathartic commonly used in the treatment of drug intoxications, has been reported in the pediatric literature to induce severe hypernatremia, but there is only a rare case report in an adult. We report a dramatic case of severe hypernatremia secondary to repetitive administration of activated charcoal-sorbitol suspension for the treatment of phenobarbital intoxication in an adult. Based on our experience with this case, several recommendations are provided regarding management of drug intoxications with charcoal-sorbitol suspension, including meticulous attention to fluid-electrolyte balance, type of replacement fluid, and dosing of the suspension.