Long-term colchicine therapy in a patient with Beh?et’s disease and acute promyelocytic leukemia

摘要

Beh?et’s disease causes a continuous T-lymphocytic mediated inflammatory reaction in the small arterioles, which results in gradual destruction of any human organ or system. The benefit of treatment with colchicine in patients with Beh?et’s disease has been reported in literature. Acute leukemia has seldom been associated with Beh?et’s disease, although acute promyelocytic leukemia is a particular subtype of leukemia that is often characterized by special cytogenetic abnormalities. We report a male patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia and Beh?et’s disease who had received long-term treatment with colchicine. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the concomitant occurrence of acute promyelocytic leukemia and Beh?et’s disease, which suggests that long-term colchicine therapy has a role in the pathogenesis of acute promyelocytic leukemia. The patient described has been treated with retinoic acid and idarubicin (the ATRA-IDA protocol). At the time of this writing, his disease is in clinical remission.