EPIGLOTTITIS FOLLOWING PREPARATION FOR ALLOGENEIC BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

We describe a 7-year-old boy who developed acute, airway-threatening, non-infectious epiglottitis following high-dose cytosine arabinoside a nd total body irradiation preparative regimen for allogeneic BMT. Unli ke gastrointestinal symptoms and oropharyngeal mucositis, acute epiglo ttitis is a previously unreported early complication following allogen eic BMT preparation. The pathogenesis of epiglottitis in our patient w as presumably multifactorial, resulting from the combination of chemot herapy and irradiation. We recommend that this diagnosis be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with significant upper airw ay symptoms following BMT preparation.