Radiation therapy for palliation of Eisenmenger's syndrome-associated painful splenomegaly

Radiat Med. 2008 Feb;26(2):84-7. doi: 10.1007/s11604-007-0194-7. Epub 2008 Feb 27.

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.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Cholecystitis, Acute / complications
  • Eisenmenger Complex / complications*
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multiple Organ Failure / etiology
  • Pain / etiology*
  • Pain / radiotherapy*
  • Palliative Care / methods*
  • Radiation Dosage
  • Radiotherapy, Conformal / methods
  • Spleen / diagnostic imaging
  • Spleen / radiation effects
  • Splenomegaly / etiology*
  • Splenomegaly / radiotherapy*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  • Treatment Outcome