Acute graft-versus-host disease in Adult
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Synopsis
Cutaneous GVHD has both an acute and a chronic form. Acute disease normally occurs within 2-4 weeks of stem cell infusion around the time of engraftment, and it typically presents as a morbilliform eruption that may progress to erythroderma or, rarely, a toxic epidermal necrolysis-like illness. Inflammation is triggered by sterile damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) and pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) molecules. Chronic cutaneous GVHD usually presents with mucocutaneous manifestations a mean of 4 months after transplantation; sclerotic and nonsclerotic (lichen planus-like) skin lesions are most common.
Pathophysiology of acute GVHD derives from activation of host antigen-presenting cells (APCs) secondary to diffuse tissue damage caused by the underlying disease and by the pretransplantation conditioning regimen. Additionally, tissue injury to the GI tract increases the systemic inflammasome by translocation of PAMP molecules. Activated APCs then induce donor T-lymphocyte priming and proliferation, which triggers a CD8+ / natural killer (NK) effector response, with local tissular amplification by soluble inflammatory cytokines such as γ-IFN and TNF-α.
Clinical staging of acute cutaneous GVHD:
- Stage 1 – < 25% body surface area involved
- Stage 2 – 25%-50% body surface area involved
- Stage 3 – > 50% body surface area involved or generalized erythroderma
- Stage 4 – generalized erythroderma with blister formation and desquamation
- Stage 1 – bilirubin 2-3 mg/dL
- Stage 2 – bilirubin 3-6 mg/dL
- Stage 3 – bilirubin 6-15 mg/dL
- Stage 4 – bilirubin >15 mg/dL
- Stage 1 – nausea / vomiting or diarrhea 500-1000 mL/day
- Stage 2 – diarrhea 1000-1500 mL/day
- Stage 3 – diarrhea > 1500 mL/day
- Stage 4 – severe abdominal pain ± noninfectious paralytic ileus or hematochezia
- Hyperacute – onset prior to day 14 following transplant
- Classic acute – onset prior to day 100 following transplant
- Persistent, recurrent, late-onset acute – onset after day 100 following transplant or donor lymphocyte infusion
Hyperacute GVHD occurring within 14 days after transplantation accounts for about 27% of all cases of acute GVHD, and it involves the skin in about 88% of patients. Hyperacute GVHD manifests with high fevers and with more severe skin disease, lower response to topical steroids, and higher nonrelapse mortality compared to regular acute GVHD. Risk factors for hyperacute GVHD include mismatched related or matched unrelated donor, donor-recipient sex mismatch, a myeloablative conditioning regimen, and receipt of over 5 prior chemotherapy regimens.
GVHD is the major cause of nonrelapse morbidity and mortality among stem cell transplant recipients.
Codes
ICD10CM:D89.810 – Acute graft-versus-host disease
SNOMEDCT:
402355000 – Acute graft-versus-host disease
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Differential Diagnosis & Pitfalls
Differentiating between acute GVHD and its mimickers may be difficult, as many of the clinical and histologic features of the entities are similar. Mucositis (due to myeloablative preparative regimens, or to methotrexate given for GVHD prophylaxis) is a common early complication after bone marrow transplant and may be difficult to distinguish from severe acute GVHD with oral involvement.Differential diagnoses for acute GVHD:
- Viral exanthem
- Toxic erythema of chemotherapy
- Eruption of lymphocyte recovery
- Exanthematous drug eruption
- Stevens-Johnson syndrome
- Toxic epidermal necrolysis
- Drug hypersensitivity syndrome
- Engraftment syndrome
- Pemphigus (eg, pemphigus vulgaris, pemphigus foliaceus, paraneoplastic pemphigus)
- Bullous pemphigoid
- Exfoliative dermatitis
- Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome
- Methotrexate-induced mucocutaneous toxicity
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References
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Last Reviewed:11/15/2022
Last Updated:11/16/2022
Last Updated:11/16/2022
Acute graft-versus-host disease in Adult