Pel-Ebstein fever coinciding with cyclical haemolytic anaemia and splenomegaly in a patient with Hodgkin's disease.

A 46-year-old man with an aortic valve replacement was investigated for recurrent episodes of fever associated with splenomegaly and haemolytic anaemia. Initially bacterial endocarditis was suspected. At laparotomy he proved to have mixed cellularity Hodgkin's disease confined to the spleen. The undefined mechanism underlying Pel-Ebstein fever in this patient may also have been the cause of simultaneous haemolysis and splenomegaly.