A persistent cough as atypical clinical presentation of intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) in a female with thalassemia intermedia

A persistent cough as atypical clinical presentation of intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) in a female with thalassemia intermedia

Authors

  • Mohammad AJ Abdulla Department of Medical Oncology, Hematology Section, National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • Mohamed A Yassin Department of Medical Oncology, Hematology Section, National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • Mohamed Abdelrazek Department of Radiology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • Deena Mudawi Department of Medical Oncology, Hematology Section, National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • Firyal Ibrahim Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • Dina S Soliman Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; Department of Clinical Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
  • Halima ElOmri Department of Medical Oncology, Hematology Section, National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • Abdulqadir J Nashwan Department of Medical Oncology, Hematology Section, National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
  • Liam Joseph Fernyhough Assistant Professor of Medicine Department of Medical Education, Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar
  • Vincenzo de Sanctis Pediatric and Adolescent Outpatients Clinic, Quisisana Accredited Private Hospital, Ferrara, Italy
  • Ashraf T Soliman Pediatric Endocrinology, Hamad Medical Center, Doha, Qatar

Keywords:

Extramedullary hematopoiesis, thalassemia intermedia, differential diagnosis, treatment

Abstract

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) is a rare disorder, defined as the appearance of hematopoietic elements outside the bone marrow or peripheral blood. The most common sites of EMH are liver and spleen, but it has been documented in other organs such as the mediastinum, lymph nodes, breast, and central nervous system. EMH occurs as a compensatory mechanism for bone marrow dysfunction in severe thalassemia. We report a case of EMH presenting as a posterior mediastinal mass in a 34-year-old woman with thalassemia intermedia with chronic cough and shortness of breath on exertion. The diagnosis of EMH was confirmed by a CT-guided fine needle biopsy. All symptoms disappeared after surgical removal of the mass.

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Published

16-02-2018

Issue

Vol. 89 No. 2-S (2018): Multidisciplinary care of Haemoglobinopathies in Qatar

Section

CASE REPORTS

License

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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How to Cite

1.
Abdulla MA, Yassin MA, Abdelrazek M, et al. A persistent cough as atypical clinical presentation of intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) in a female with thalassemia intermedia. Acta Biomed. 2018;89(2-S):41-46. doi:10.23750/abm.v89i2-S.7086
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