title: Remission in hairy cell leukemia-variant following splenic radiotherapy alone.
abstract: The therapeutic approach to hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is in some instances still debated. A variant form of HCL (HCL-V) characterized by high white cell count, splenomegaly, hypercellular and aspirable bone marrow has been described; differential diagnosis often arises with some other B-cell disorders which also show circulating hairy or villous lymphocytes. Conventional treatment for HCL is often less effective in HCL-V. In this report we describe a case with features consistent with HCL-variant treated with splenic radiotherapy. We not only obtained an hematological response but also the near total disappearance of bone marrow infiltration, compatible with a clinical complete remission. Clinical and biological implications of this phenomenon are discussed on the basis of this unexpected therapeutic result, obtained with splenic radiotherapy alone.
authors.affiliation: Fourth Chair of Internal Medicine, Institute of Medical Semeiotics, University of Padua Medical School, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sgarabotto
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vianello
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Radossi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poletti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sotti
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Stefani
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sartori
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Girolami
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D007943:Leukemia, Hairy Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008297:Male; D012074:Remission Induction; D013154:Spleen / Q000528:radiation effects*