Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0038220 (status epilepticus)
 7,272 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is characterized anatomically by an infiltration of multiple tissues with lymphocytes and haemophagocytic histiocytes. First symptoms are usually hepatosplenomegaly, pancytopenia, and intractable fever. Up to 73% of those with HLH develop CNS involvement during the disease course. The peculiarity of the two patients presented here, a 20-month-old Italian female and a 4-year-old Moroccan female, is that the initial presenting neurological symptoms mimicked an encephalitis, anticipating the typical systemic symptoms by 1 and 4 months. They developed progressive encephalopathy accompanied by status epilepticus, one child developed a secondary hydrocephalus. In both children it was not possible to detect an underlying infection or malignant disease and there were no other cases in the family that suggested a familial form of HLH. Diagnosis and initiation of treatment was delayed because of the initial encephalopathic clinical picture and the late onset of the typical systemic features. As early diagnosis allows better therapeutical approaches, haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis should be considered in children with persistent or progressive findings of encephalopathy, especially in the absence of identification of a plausible pathogen.
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PMID:Acute encephalopathy as a primary manifestation of haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. 1150 22

We describe a 3 year-old male who presented with fever and cerebellar dysfunction after varicella. He developed transient hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenias, and progressive central nervous system involvement (coma, status epilepticus, and hydrocephalus). Despite normal initial cranial computed tomographic scan, diffuse swelling of the cerebellum with downward tonsillar herniation ensued. Diagnosis of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis was difficult and delayed because of the relapsing course, and complete diagnostic criteria were not fulfilled at initial presentation. Central nervous system disease preceded the typical clinical picture of this disease; it dominated the clinical course and caused life-threatening complications and sequelae. The patient improved after treatment, according to the hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis protocol (HLH-94) of the Histiocyte Society, with dexamethasone, etoposide, and cyclosporine and unrelated cord blood stem cell transplantation. A mutation in the perforin gene confirmed the diagnosis of familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.
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PMID:Near fatal cerebellar swelling in familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. 1516 42