Fulminant hepatitis B following bone marrow transplantation in an HBsAg-negative, HBsAb-positive recipient; reactivation of dormant virus during the immunosuppressive period.
It is widely accepted that seroconversion of HBsAg to HBsAb indicates clearance of hepatitis B virus. We describe a 50-year-old man with chronic myelocytic leukemia who developed lethal hepatitis B 22 months after allo-BMT. He had been negative for HBsAg and positive for HBsAb before BMT. Hepatitis B virus latently existing in the liver cells before BMT proliferated during the immunosuppressed period causing fatal hepatitis. Recipients with positive HBsAb should be considered to have the potential for active hepatitis B to emerge after BMT. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2000) 25, 105-108.
Iwai
K
K
Department of Hematology and Oncology, Clinical Sciences for Pathological Organs, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Tashima
M
M
Itoh
M
M
Okazaki
T
T
Yamamoto
K
K
Ohno
H
H
Marusawa
H
H
Ueda
Y
Y
Nakamura
T
T
Chiba
T
T
Uchiyama
T
T
D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens