[Intestinal pneumatosis developed during the treatment of severe gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease after cord blood transplantation].

Abstract

A 62-year-old female developed stage4 gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) on day 109 following an allogeneic cord blood transplant for relapsed refractory angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. GVHD went into remission 4 weeks after receiving the steroid (mPSL 1 mg/kg), but abdominal bloating started to emerge at the same time. A diagnosis of intestinal pneumatosis was made on day 158 after a CT scan revealed submucosal and serosal pneumatosis in the entire colon, and intestinal pneumatosis was identified as the cause. Fasting and reducing steroid use have helped. the abdominal symptoms, and the pneumatosis disappeared on day 175. No more flare-ups occurred, and the steroid was successfully stopped. After allogeneic transplantation, intestinal pneumatosis is a rather uncommon complications. Its pathogenesis is thought to be influenced by GVHD or steroids. Treatments for the disease may be incompatible with one another, and the response in individual cases needs to be studied in detail.