title: Radiation therapy for palliation of Eisenmenger's syndrome-associated painful splenomegaly.
abstract: Painful splenomegaly has a clinical presentation that is often associated with myeloproliferative disorders, such as acute or chronic lymphoblastic or myelogenous leukemia. In these situations low-dose radiotherapy is effective in reducing the splenomegaly and relieving pain. The potential benefit of radiotherapy for cardiogenic splenomegaly is less well established. The present report discusses a case in which radiotherapy was employed to benefit a patient with Eisenmenger's-associated painful splenomegaly. Because of the patient's high anesthesia risk, palliative surgical splenectomy was not feasible. The patient underwent three-dimensional conformal treatment planning, and a total of 42.5 Gy at 2.5 Gy per fraction was prescribed to the spleen. At 4 months following radiotherapy completion, the patient reported durable pain relief and no untoward small bowel effects; moreover, there was a 43% reduction in splenic volume on follow-up CT. Although there have been previous reports of hematological and myeloproliferative-associated splenomegaly that have been treated with a lower dose per fraction and lower total dose radiotherapy, we advocate the use of 2.0-2.5 Gy per fraction to a total dose approaching 40 Gy for adequate duration of response when treating cardiogenic-associated painful splenomegaly in patients for whom surgical splenectomy cannot be performed.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Osorio
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: Charlie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Strange
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Jenrette
mesh_terms: D041881:Cholecystitis, Acute / Q000150:complications; D004541:Eisenmenger Complex / Q000150:complications*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009102:Multiple Organ Failure / Q000209:etiology; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000379:methods; D013154:Spleen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000528:radiation effects; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000209:etiology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome