Repeated treatment with high dose cyclophosphamide for severe autoimmune diseases.

High dose cyclophosphamide (HiCY) without stem cell rescue has been shown to induce remissions in patients with severe autoimmune disorders (SADS). However, up to 80% of these patients ultimately relapse. Here we review the outcomes of seven patients treated with two cycles and one patient treated with three cycles of HiCY. The diseases re-treated were scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, three patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA), and three patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). All but two patients with SAA had received standard immunomodulatory therapy for their disease up front and had been refractory. All patients had complete hematologic recovery. Overall survival in this cohort was 100%. All patients relapsed after the initial cycle but event free survival thereafter was 93.3%. All are still in remission except two MG patients, one of whom relapsed after a severe GI infection requiring hospitalization, and the other relapsed 3 years after the second treatment and she did not respond to the third treatment. This shows that HiCY can be safely re-administered in patients with SAA and refractory SADS. The quality and duration of second remissions appears to be equal or superior to the first remission.

Thallium-201 imaging in evaluation of Hodgkin's disease.

PURPOSE: The role of Ga 67 in the evaluation of Hodgkin's disease has been widely established. Tl 201 has been used to evaluate a wide variety of malignant lesions. This prospective study was performed to evaluate the role of Tl 201 imaging in Hodgkin's disease at the time of initial presentation and in the assessment of response to therapy, relapse, and remission. METHODS: Fifty-one consecutive patients (23 female, 28 male) with known Hodgkin's disease underwent 111 Tl 201 and Ga 67 studies. The age range was 16-56 years (mean age, 34.7 years). The histopathologies included nodular sclerosis (in 31 cases), mixed cellularity (in 12), lymphocytic predominant (in five), lymphocytic depletion (in one), and unknown (in two). All patients underwent whole-body imaging after intravenous injection of 3 mCi of Tl 201 chloride and 10 mCi of Ga 67 citrate. Comparison with Ga 67 imaging, anatomical imaging (computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging), and clinical correlation were performed. RESULTS: The combined analysis of all various histologies demonstrated that a comparison of Tl 201 with Ga 67 scintigraphy revealed a sensitivity of 0.76 versus 0.89; a specificity of 0.96 versus 0.73, an accuracy of 0.86 versus 0.81, a positive predictive value of 0.95 versus 0.77, and a negative predictive value of 0.81 versus 0.87. Tl 201 imaging was similar in sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy among the nodular sclerosis and the mixed-cellularity Hodgkin's disease. CONCLUSION: Tl 201 imaging offers more specificity with a higher positive predictive value in the diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease. The Ga 67 study is more sensitive than Tl 201 in the detection of disease. There is no significant difference in accuracy and negative predictive value between the two studies. Therefore, we recommend Tl 201 imaging in the initial evaluation and assessment of patients' response to radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy.

Occurrence of multiple myeloma in both donor and recipient after bone marrow transplantation.

The transplantation of malignant cells during allogeneic transplant is a rare occurrence. 27 months after donating progenitor cells, a diagnosis of multiple myeloma was made in a 6/6 HLA-phenotypically matched unrelated donor. The 42-year-old recipient transplanted for chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia developed IgA myeloma 40 months after transplantation. Serum electrophoresis and bone marrow investigations established the diagnosis of IgA K multiple myeloma in both. This case illustrates the natural history and biology of multiple myeloma.