Neuromuscular complications of bone marrow transplantation

Chronic graft-versus-host disease manifesting as polymyositis: an uncommon presentation

“…15,26,27 Other signs and symptoms may include fever, 2,20,27,28 contractures, 2,18,23,26 dysphagia 14,24 eosinophilia 13,21 and skin induration over the areas of muscle involvement. 26 The majority of patients present with elevated CPK and aldolase enzymes. Elevated titers of antinuclear antibody (ANA) or rheumatoid factor have been inconsistently reported in GVHD-associated polymyositis.…”

“…11 Lower extremities seem to be more commonly involved. 15,26,27 Other signs and symptoms may include fever, 2,20,27,28 contractures, 2,18,23,26 dysphagia 14,24 eosinophilia 13,21 and skin induration over the areas of muscle involvement. 26 The majority of patients present with elevated CPK and aldolase enzymes.…”

“…In 30 of these patients, polymyositis was associated with dermatological changes of GVHD. 2,12,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] The onset of GVHD-associated polymyositis has been reported to occur between 100 days and 69 months after allogeneic HSCT, and about half of the patients do not have a history of acute GVHD. 21,23 Clinical manifestations of GVHD-associated polymyositis are indistinguishable from those of the idiopathic form polymyositis.…”

Reduced respiratory and skeletal muscle strength in survivors of sibling or unrelated donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

“…The literature to date is comprised mainly of small case series and case reports. 2,[14][15][16][17][18][19] In a previous study, we demonstrated respiratory and skeletal muscle weakness in up to 30% of subjects 1 before undergoing HSCT. This study extends these observations and demonstrates that significant respiratory and skeletal muscle weakness can still be detected in those Table 2 Respiratory and skeletal muscle strength and submaximal exercise testing in subjects following HSCT subjects undergoing PFT following HSCT.…”

Neurological complications following alemtuzumab-based reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation

“…[1][2][3][4] However, severe neurological complications involving the peripheral nervous system (PNS) are relatively rare, occurring in less than 3% of transplanted patients and presents with acute or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. 2,[4][5][6][7][8] An alternative approach for allogeneic SCT, aimed at attenuating treatment-related toxicity by reducing the conditioning chemotherapy dose and increasing the cure rate by inducing a graft-versus-tumour effect, has recently been introduced in patients with haematological malignancies. [9][10][11][12] We describe the incidence, characteristics and outcome of neurological complication following alemtuzumab-based reduced-intensity SCT (RISCT), emphasizing the relatively high incidence of PNS involvement observed in these patients.…”