Fulminant hepatic failure in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Abstract

Summary Two patients with fulminant hepatic failure presenting during the course of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are described. One patient had no previous history of lymphoma whereas in the other a small bowel lymphoma had recently been diagnosed. Both patients had histological evidence of lymphomatous infiltrate in the liver and no other cause for the fulminant hepatic failure could be found. Neither patient responded to treatment with corticosteroids: the cautious use of combined chemotherapy may be justified.

Acute Liver Failure as an Initial Manifestation of an Infiltrative Hematolymphoid Malignancy

“…Hodgkin's disease carries a better prognosis, with a 90% 5-year survival in stage I and II with treatment and 75% in advanced stages (28). Hepatic involvement has been described in 16-22% cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (5,9,29). Significant hepatic dysfunction is these cases is uncommon (9).…”

“…ALF due to acute hepatitis A carries the lowest mortality (35-55%), followed by acetaminophen toxicity (47-66%), hepatitis B (61-77%), drug reactions (86%), and non-A, non-B hepatitis (91%) (5,23,27). Patients with ALF not responding to therapy are referred for liver transplantation.…”

Acute hepatic failure due to hepatosplenic B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in a patient infected with hepatitis C virus

“…AHF caused by hepatic involvement of NHL, however, is very rare. We have summarized the reported cases of AHF caused by NHL found in the Englishlanguage and Japanese literature [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] in Table 2. Almost all patients displayed systemic symptoms such as fever, body weight loss, and night sweating.…”

Primary hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as fulminant hepatic failure in a young woman

“…Although there are reports of metastatic liver disease presenting as fulminant hepatic failure (Mallory et al, 1946;Krauss et al, 1979;Hess & Joyce, 1981;Harrison et al, 1981;Braude et al, 1982) there is only one report of a primary hepatic malignancy presenting in this way (Stein et al, 1977). This was a malignant haemangioendothelioma.…”