[Toxic manifestations in the treatment of leukemias and malignant lymphomas]

Toxic effect of chemotherapy was found in 13 dead patients suffering from myeloic leukaemia, Hodgkin disease and malignant lymphoma during past 18 months. Drugs with known toxicity from various sorts of antineoplastic treatment were administered simultaneously or successively what did not allow to differentiate their effects. Clinical symptomatology of the patients comprised respiratory distress syndrome or heart failure which could not be otherwise explained. Pneumopathies prevailed (10 cases) over isolated cardiomyopathies (3 cases), their concurrence was found in 3 other cases. Pneumopathies were mostly (9 cases) characterized by diffuse alveolar damage, by often bizarre proliferating type II pneumocytes and capillary thrombi. Simultaneous organizing processes (7 cases) in alveoli and bronchioli were present and sometimes combined with interstitial lung fibrosis; a single secondary alveolar lipoproteinosis was combined with intraalveolar organization. Cardiomyopathies were mostly characterized by irregular cardiocyte hypertrophy and focal fibrosis, sometimes by distended and waved or vacuolated cardiocytes. Toxic lesions are reversible as usual and risky treatment modalities found out by pathologist are to be early modified.