Internal Medicine
Online ISSN : 1349-7235
Print ISSN : 0918-2918
ISSN-L : 0918-2918
CASE REPORTS
Successful Treatment of POEMS Syndrome Complicated by Severe Congestive Heart Failure with Thalidomide
Daichi InoueAiko KatoSumie TabataTakeshi KitaiYoko TakiuchiTakaharu KimuraSonoko ShimojiMinako MoriYuya NagaiKatsuhiro TogamiAkiko MatsushitaKenichi NagaiHayato MaruokaYukihiro ImaiMinako BeppuMichi KawamotoTakayuki Takahashi
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JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2010 Volume 49 Issue 5 Pages 461-466

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Abstract

A 55-year-old woman was diagnosed with POEMS syndrome; however, we could not perform high-dose chemotherapy with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (auto-PBSCT) because of rapidly progressive congestive heart failure. Thus, we treated the patient with thalidomide plus dexamethasone, which brought about a marked improvement of systolic dysfunction, POEMS syndrome-related symptoms and the serum concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor. Subsequently, we safely performed high-dose chemotherapy with auto-PBCST. This report strongly suggests that thalidomide is effective for POEMS syndrome, even if complicated by congestive heart failure which is considered to be related to POEMS syndrome.

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© 2010 by The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
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