- Pel-Ebstein fever
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eMedicineSubj = med
eMedicineTopic = 1770
MeshID =Pel-Ebstein fever is a rarely seen condition noted in patients with
Hodgkin's lymphoma in which the patient experiencesfever s which cyclicly increase then decrease over an average period of one or two weeks. A cyclic fever may also be associated with other conditions, but it is not called "Pel-Ebstein fever" unless the fever is associated with Hodgkin's.cite web |url=http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1770.htm |title=eMedicine - Pel-Ebstein Fever : Article by Ephraim P Hochberg, MD |accessdate=2007-07-08 |format= |work=]Causes
The cause is currently unknown although speculation centers on host immune response, lymph node
necrosis , and damaged stomal cells. [ cite journal | last=Ree | first=HJ | title=Stromal macrophage-histiocytes in Hodgkin's disease. Their relation to fever. | journal=Cancer | volume=60 | issue=1479 | date=1987 ]Treatment
Treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents or treatment of the underlying Hodgkin's (usually with
chemotherapy ) will help the symptoms. cite book | last=Mauch | first=Peter | coauthors=James Armitage, Volker Diehl, Richard Hoppe, Laurence Weiss | title=Hodgkin's Disease | publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins | date=1999 | pages=327–328 | isbn=0-7817-1502-4 ]Eponym
The condition is named after
Wilhelm Ebstein andPK Pel who both published papers in 1887 noting the phenomenon. [ cite journal | last=Ebstein | first=Wilhelm | authorlink=Wilhelm Ebstein | title=Das chronische Ruckfallsfieber, eine neue Infectionskrankheit | journal=Berlin Klin Wochenschr | volume=24 | issue=565
date=1887 ] [ cite journal | last=Pel | first=PK | title=Pseudoleukaemie oder chronisches Ruckfallsfieber? | journal=Berlin Klin Wochenschr | volume=24 | issue=565 | date=1887 ] WhoNamedIt|synd|438]Controversy
Researchers have speculated whether this condition truly exists, since some authorities anecdotally estimate only a 5-10% occurrence rate. In his Lettsomian Lecture "Making Sense", delivered to the Medical Society of London in 1959,
Richard Asher refers to Pel-Ebstein fever as an example of a condition that exists only because it has a name. "Every student and every doctor knows that cases of Hodgkin's disease may show a fever that is high for one week and low for the next week and so on. Does this phenomenon really exist at all?..." Stuart Bennett, a student from the University of Portsmouth confirms that this condition does exist, after suffering with the symptoms for over a year before his doctors gave a diagnosis. [Citation
last = Hilson
first = A.J.W.
last2 = DiNubile
first2 = M.J.
title = Correspondence
journal = New England Journal of Medicine
volume = 333
pages = 66–67
date = 1995-07-06
year = 1995
url = http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/333/1/66
accessdate = 2008-03-18
id =
doi = 10.1056/NEJM199507063330118 . They cite Richard Asher's lecture "Making Sense" (Lancet, 1959, 2, 359)]References
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