Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). Overview of symptoms of LCH, which may lead the patients to any of these medical specialists.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare condition with incidence in adults 1-2/1 million, wherein Langerhans cells proliferate abnormally, adversely impacting organs including most frequently bones, skin, lungs, pituitary gland, lymph nodes, gums and other organs. The LCH course varies widely among patients from a self-limiting condition, to one that progresses. But LCH only very rarely culminates in death. To aim of this text is to review all possible symptoms and manifestations of this disease.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (OslerWeberRendu syndrome) - Part II. Pharmacological therapy and international guidelines for the therapy 2020.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia also known as Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome, is an disorder that causes abnormal blood vessel formation with bleeding. Inhibition of angiogenesis amelioretes bleeding complication. Anti-angiogenic agents such as bevacizumab, aflibercept, thalidomid, lenadomid and other new anti-angiogenic thyrosinkinase inhibitors, as well as sirolimus and takrolimus have emerged as a promising systemic or local therapy in reducing bleeding complications but are not curative. Other pharmacological agents include iron supplementation, antifibrinolytics and hormonal treatment. This review concentrates on new anti-agioproliferative drugs with effect in HHT- discusses the new biology of HHT, management issues that face the practising hematologist, and considerations of future directions in HHT treatment.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome) Part I. Pathophysiology, clinical symptoms and recommend screening for vascular malformations.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), also known as Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome, is an autosomal dominant disorder that causes abnormal blood vessel formation. Patients with HHT may have telangiectasias and later may develop arteriovenous malformations in various organs. Pacients suffer from many complications caused by the malformations and therefore by patients with HHT must by performed screening of this arteriovenous malformations. Optimal treatment of this malformations is best delivered throught a multidisciplinary approach. Farmacological treatment is described in next paper.

[The benefit of new angiogenesis (bevacizumab and aflibercept) inhibitors for multiple angiomatosis therapy: a case report]. / Prínos nových inhibitoru angiogeneze (bevacizumab a aflibercept) pro lécbu mnohocetné angiomatózy: kazuistika.

Angiomatosis is a term for multiple, gradually proliferating hemangiomas (angiodysplasia), affecting multiple organs or tissues at the same time. We describe a 12-year course of treatment of a patient with multiple hemangiomas located in the abdomen, retroperitoneum, oesophagus, mediastinum and also in vertebrae. The diagnosis was made in 2005 within probatory laparotomy, at the age of 28 years. The treatment was commenced right after making the diagnosis with interferon α. Due to its adverse effects (fatigue, anorexia), the use of interferon α was limited to the first year, after which the interferon dose was gradually being reduced until it was discontinued completely. From 2006 to 2011 the treatment was based on thalidomide and temporarily also on lenalidomide. By the end of the year 2011 the patient was stabilized through the effect of these drugs, without a need of repeated blood transfusions. In 2012 his condition got worse again, which required several transfusions in one month. We tested metronomic administration of cyclophosphamide and further administration of propranolol, however neither of them improved the patients situation. Injections of octreotide (Sandostatin 0.1 mg twice a day) helped reduce losses during bleeding into the alimentary tract. Still the patient continued to depend on blood transfusions. Therefore, in 2013, bevacizumab was added to the therapy (7.5 mg/kg in 3-week intervals). This treatment stabilized the patient, it reduced the use of transfusions for a period of 2 years, however after 2 years of a successful therapy with bevacizumab there was disease progression shown on CT imaging and hemorrhagic pleural effusion was also detected. After the treatment of hemorrhagic effusion, early in 2015 we transferred to the administration of aflibercept, at first at the dose of 4 mg/kg in 14-day intervals. Arising of massive proteinuria led to the dose reduction to 2 mg/kg while maintaining 14-day intervals. While receiving this dose, the patient tolerates aflibercept thera-py without significant adverse effects. At the time of publication, the patient has been treated with aflibercept for 24 months already, of that for the last ten months he has been fully independent of transfusions. Just before commencement of treatment with aflibercept his conditions required several transfusions in a week. This description demonstrates that the efficiency of individual medications for multiple angiomatosis is always time-limited and newly developed and more efficient drugs are needed to manage the disease. Bevacizumab and aflibercept are beneficial for patients with serious forms of multiple angiomatosis.Key words: aflibercept - angiomatosis - angiodysplasia - bevacizumab - hemangiomas.

[The patient complains of spinal pain or fatigue and weakness. How do I recognize whether their cause is spondylarthrosis, the patients age or multiple myeloma?]. / Pacient si stezuje na bolesti v páteri nebo na únavu a slabost. Jak rozeznám, zda je prícinou spondylartróza, vek nemocného anebo mnohocetný myelom?

Multiple myeloma has varied manifestations which resemble common patient complaints and that is why this disease is typically not diagnosed until it reaches an advanced stage. Spinal pains can be an expression of deformative and discogenous changes, but also a symptom of multiple myeloma. Pains in the long bones may result from the pain radiating from an arthrotic joint, but also from a large myelomatic osteolytic lesion which makes the bone prone to a spontaneous fracture. Pathological weariness may have many causes, multiple myeloma being one of them. Anemia may have a large number of causes and multiple myeloma is one of them. Raised creatinine levels and renal failure can also be due to many causes and again, multiple myeloma is one of them. Weakened immunity and frequent infections can also have many causes, among them multiple myeloma. Confusion and sleepiness may be due to psychiatric diagnosis, but also may result from hypercalcemia associated with multiple myeloma. The following text which is designed for non-hematology physicians therefore describes in detail the symptoms of multiple myeloma and diagnostic steps leading to establishing the diagnosis and it only briefly outlines the treatment related information. You can also visit www.myeloma.cz for details. This text aims to summarize the symptoms of multiple myeloma for physicians not specializing in hematology in order to facilitate earlier diagnosing of the disease.

[PET-CT documented complete remission of Erdheim-Chester disease, lasting more than 4 years from treatment initiation with cladribine]. / PET-CT dokumentovaná kompletní 4letá remise Erdheimovy-Chesterovy nemoci po lécbe kladribinem.

Erdheim-Chester disease is a very rare histiocytic disease. It represents one form of juvenile xanthogranuloma in WHO classification of blood diseases. The disease often causes B symptoms, skeletal pain and also may cause diabetes insipidus and retroperitoneal fibrosis. Selection of therapy depends on published case reports and small clinical trials. There are no recommendations for treatment based on randomized studies. Interferon α is probably the most commonly used drug for this disease. Some remissions have been described after treatment. However, long-term interferon α application is needed which is associated with numerous side effects. There are limited experiences with clabridine in this indication. In Pubmed Medline database, we have found 3 publications dedicated to description of treatment response after cladribine in Erdheim-Chester disease and other 7 papers evaluating effect of cladribine on juvenile xanthogranuloma forms, mostly with positive outcome. Based on these 10 publications we choose cladribine as first-line treatment in our patient. The treatment started in October 2009 with combination of 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (Litak) 5 mg/m2 sc. + cyclophosphamide 150 mg/m2 iv. + dexamethasone 24 mg iv., five days consecutively. These cycles were repeated monthly. Mentioned formula was submitted 4 times and 3 times in limited application on day 1 - 3. The reason of that was neutropenia grade 3. All symptoms disappeared after treatment. Only diabetes insipidus persisted because damage of pituitary stalk is irreversible. Therapeutic effect was monitored by PET-CT imaging, initially every 6 months, later in 12-month intervals. PET-CT imaging showed complete remission of disease and 4.5 years duration of remission after treatment. The treatment was well tolerated with no complications implying hospitalization. Only mild thrombocytopenia and neutropenia remains after 4.5 years. Based on case report and publications we consider cladribine as appropriate firs-line drug for Erdheim-Chester disease. Therapeutic failure after 3-4 cycles may suggest other options (interferon α, anakinra, vemurafenib), but only in the case if healthcare provider is willing to cover this new and more expansive treatment than therapy with cladribine.

Measuring diffuse metabolic activity on FDG-PET/CT: new method for evaluating Langerhans cell histiocytosis activity in pulmonary parenchyma.

INTRODUCTION: Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (PLCH) is a rare cause of interstitial lung disease characterized by formation of nodules in the active phase of the disease that evolve into nonactive cystic lesions later on. To evaluate PLCH activity in patients, we developed a new method for measuring diffuse metabolic activity on fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) using a lung-to-liver activity ratio. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively studied a series of 4 FDG-PET and 23 FDG-PET/CT scans from 7 patients with PLCH and analyzed a sample of 100 randomly chosen FDG-PET/CT studies free from any known lung or hepatic diseases. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in a spherical volume (6-8 cm in diameter) in the right lung was put into relation with SUVmax in a spherical volume (9-10 cm in diameter) in the reference liver parenchyma to set up the SUVmaxPULMO/SUVmaxHEPAR index. The index values were compared to the disease course in each patient. RESULTS: In patients with PLCH, a close correlation between the index value and the disease course was found in all seven subjects, where the increasing index values indicated disease activity, while decreasing index values were observed after therapy administration. In the group of 100 healthy control subjects, we found index values lower than 0.3 in 80% and lower than 0.4 in 96% [range: 0.14-0.43; 0.24±0.07 (100)]. CONCLUSION: Measuring SUVmaxPULMO/SUVmaxHEPAR values and their time-trend monitoring represent simple, noninvasive screening tools allowing an early diagnosis and treatment response follow-up assessment in patients with PLCH.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis with central nervous system involvement: follow-up by FDG-PET during treatment with cladribine.

The prognosis of patients with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) involving the central nervous system (CNS) is generally poor, despite reports of clinical responses to chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. We report on a patient with a 20-year history of relapsing multisystem LCH who developed progressive neuropsychiatric symptoms, including diplopia, ataxia, and mental deterioration. There was a regression of lesions in the brain stem and cerebellum following chemotherapy with cladribine (2-CdA) as evidenced by positron emission tomography (PET) scans. In conclusion, our experience is encouraging for the use of cladribine in CNS LCH. PET may be a useful modality for the monitoring of CNS disease activity in LCH and provides additional information in comparison with NMR imaging.