2008 Volume 118 Issue 9 Pages 1709-1712
We clinically studied 11 biopsy cases seen in the International Medical Center of Japan from 1997 to 2003 for suspicion of acute graft-versus-host disease. The relationship between the biopsy findings and clinical features, including skin stage, types and regions of rash, the presence or absence of diarrhea and laboratory data was evaluated. Seven cases had histological findings of GVHD, and 4 cases did not. Although none of the clinical features except γ-GTP levels had a strong relationship with the histological findings, γ-GTP levels were increased in 8 cases, including 7 cases with positive biopsy findings. Three cases had no detectable elevation of γ-GTP levels. These cases had no histological findings, eitheir γ-GTP may be useful for predicting the histological findings of acute GVHD.
