Small bowel stenosis: a manifestation of chronic graft-versus-host disease in children?

Digestive graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a frequent complication after bone marrow transplantation (BMT), but small bowel obstruction is an extremely rare event. We present herein the first pediatric series of 4 cases of small bowel obstruction after BMT with detailed gross, histological data and their genetic status of the NOD2 gene. All patients had a history of severe acute GVHD treated by immunosuppressive agents and/or infliximab (in 3 cases). Acute or progressively worsening abdominal pain accompanied by small bowel occlusion occurred 5–16months after graft and CT-scan revealed multiple small intestinal stenosis.

http://ift.tt/2wRWJIY