Takayasu's arteritis secondary to myelodysplasia as a predictor of poor outcome: Two case reports

C. Amberger¹, C. Denzlinger³, J. Janzen², M. Müller-Schimpfle⁴, M. Mohren¹, I. Kötter¹ 

¹Department of Medicine II and ²Department of Pathology of the Tübingen University Hospital; ³Department of Medicine III, Marienhospital, Stuttgart; ⁴Department of Radiology, Städtische Kliniken Frankfurt Hoechst, Frankfurt, Germany.

ABSTRACT
We present two patients with myelodysplasia in association with Takayasu's arteritis (TA). In both patients intensive immunosuppressive treatment could not control the vascular inflammation. Subsequently both patients developed myelodysplasia, rapidly progressing to secondary acute myelogenous leukaemia. One patient had a peripheral blood stem cell transplant from a compatible sibling donor, but died of refractory leukaemia 5 months later. The other patient died of fungal sepsis. These are the first two patients reported to have TA associated with myelodysplasia/secondary leukaemia.

Key words
Myelodysplasia, Takayasu's arteritis, vasculitis, chronic myelo-monocytotic leukaemia.

Please address correspondence to: Ina Kötter, MD, Department of Medicine II, University Hospital of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Strasse 10, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. 
E-mail: ina.koetter@med.uni-tuebingen.de

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2004; 22: 346-348.
© Copyright Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 2004.