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Non-myeloablative allogenic BMT for myelodysplastic syndrome successfully controlled accompanying relapsing polychondritis

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 47, pages 742–743 (2012)Cite this article

Relapsing polychondritis (RP) is a rare disorder of unknown cause characterized by recurrent episodes of polychondritis and progressive destruction of cartilage of the ear, nose and laryngotracheobronchial tree.1 As many as 30% of the patients have other autoimmune disorders like systemic vasculitis and rheumatoid arthritis. This observation suggests an essential role of autoimmune reaction in the pathogenesis of RP.2 Myelodysplastic syndrome is also associated with RP, although its mechanism is unknown.3, 4 There have been few reports of auto-SCT for RP.5, 6, 7 We present here for the first time a case of RP treated with non-myeloablative allogenic BMT from sibling donor for myelodysplastic syndrome.

C-reactive protein declined after the BMT and remained at or less than 0.1 mg/dL except for the episode of documented pneumonia in 2008. The conjunctivitis ameliorated significantly after the non-myeloablative allogenic BMT, and Gallium scintigraphy revealed improvement of the polychondritis. The patient has been free from the recurrence of polychondritis for 3 years. The 5-year mortality of RP is about 30% due to the collapse of airway structure or cardiovascular involvement. The presented case suggests that non-myeloablative allo-BMT from sibling donor may have curative potential for relapsing polychondritis.

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  1. Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    J Tomomatsu, Y Hamano, J Ando, N Komatsu & K Sugimoto

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  1. J Tomomatsu
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  2. Y Hamano
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  3. J Ando
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  4. N Komatsu
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  5. K Sugimoto
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Correspondence to K Sugimoto.

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Tomomatsu, J., Hamano, Y., Ando, J. et al. Non-myeloablative allogenic BMT for myelodysplastic syndrome successfully controlled accompanying relapsing polychondritis. Bone Marrow Transplant 47, 742–743 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.159

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