2002 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 71-77
We assessed the clinical features of the Adenovirus type 7 infection-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (AD7-HLH). Two boys and three girls aged 12 to 27 months developed AD7-HLH in the course of asthmatic bronchitis. Bone marrow aspirations were performed because of prolonged fever, hepatomegaly, cytopenia, and elevated levels of serum LDH and ferritin, and a diagnosis of HLH was determined. Two patients with complications from underlying diseases required mechanical ventilation as a result of respiratory failure. Characteristically, all patients developed consciousness disturbance, and two suffered convulsions. The examinations of their cerebrospinal fluid were normal, but their electroencephalogram showed a diffuse high-voltage slow wave. Brain CT showed a slight brain edema in two patients at diagnosis and a brain atrophy in two patients at recovery period. As a serious complication, a portal vein thrombosis occurred in one boy patient. Corticosteroids were administered and all patients recovered. Among the cytokines, the serum levels of sIL-2R, INF-γ, IL-6, and IL-18 were elevated and supposed to relate their consciousness disturbance.
