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Case Reports
. 2021 Sep 28;15(1):478.
doi: 10.1186/s13256-021-03067-y.

Large-vessel vasculitis in graft-versus-host disease: a case report

Anmar Al-Heilfi  1 , Champa Nataraja  2 , Helen Cooley  2 , Tracey Batt  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Large-vessel vasculitis in graft-versus-host disease: a case report

Anmar Al-Heilfi et al. J Med Case Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Graft-versus-host disease is a common complication seen with allogenic stem cell transplant, which is used to treat a variety of hematological malignancies. Graft-versus-host disease is an allogenic syndrome and can present in a variety of ways, including symptoms mimicking various autoimmune diseases; however, it is quite rare to see graft-versus-host disease affecting the vascular system and causing vasculitis.

Case presentation: We describe a case of a 59-year-old Caucasian man with follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell transformation who developed graft-versus-host disease post allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and later progressed to neurological complication foot drop and large-vessel vasculitis.

Conclusion: The life-threatening vascular complications associated with large-vessel vasculitis include arterial aneurysms and dissections, and ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Thus, this rare immunological association needs to be recognized and treated in a timely manner to prevent the long-term complications.

Keywords: Allogenic stem cell transplant; Graft-versus-host disease; Large-vessel vasculitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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