Open AccessUnexplained cause of thrombocytopenia, fever, anasarca and hypothyroidism: TAFRO syndrome with thrombotic microangiopathy renal histology
Author(s) -
Sylvain Raoul Simeni Njonnou,
Justine Deuson,
Claire Royer-Chardon,
Frédéric Vandergheynst,
Virginie De Wilde
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
bmj case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.231
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 1757-790X
DOI - 10.1136/bcr-2019-234155
Subject(s) - medicine , anasarca , organomegaly , myelofibrosis , thrombotic microangiopathy , tocilizumab , pathology , rituximab , polyneuropathy , bone marrow , disease , lymphoma
TAFRO (thrombocytopenia, anasarca, fever, reticulin myelofibrosis or renal dysfunction and organomegaly) syndrome is a systemic inflammatory disease characterised by thrombocytopenia, anasarca, fever or inflammatory syndrome, reticulin myelofibrosis or renal dysfunction and organomegaly. It was first described as a subtype of idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease. Here, we report the case of a 42-year-old woman presenting with thrombocytopenia, anasarca, inflammatory syndrome, renal insufficiency, reticulin myelofibrosis at bone marrow biopsy and cervical and axillary lymph nodes. Kidney biopsy showed double contours of the glomerular basement membrane, mesangiolysis and endothelial swelling compatible with thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) as well as with TAFRO syndrome. She was successfully treated by corticosteroids, tocilizumab and rituximab. This new case description of TAFRO syndrome underlines three features of this disease rarely described in the literature and never simultaneously in the same patient: the association to severe hypothyroidism, the presence of TMA-like lesions on kidney biopsy and the treatment by the association of steroids, tocilizumab and rituximab.