[Severe systemic edema correlated with serum VEGF titer in a patient with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma].

A 73-year-old woman was admitted with generalized lymphadenopathy, marked protrusion of the abdomen, severe systemic edema, oliguria, and dyspnea. Histological examination of a cervical lymph node specimen showed a typical structure of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. CT scan revealed whole paraaortic lymphadenopathy, marked edematous lesions in the subcutaneous tissues and mesenterium, but small amounts of pleural effusion and ascites. This patient achieved complete remission after 5 courses of chemotherapy, a first course of CHOP followed by 4 courses of hyper CVAD plus high-dose MTX/AraC regimen alternatively. Her body weight was 58 kg on the day of admission and decreased to 41kg after 5 courses of chemotherapy, accompanied with symptomatic improvement. We checked the kinetics of serum Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) concentrations during the 5 courses of chemotherapy. Pretreatment serum level of VEGF was high and declined gradually within the normal range. The serum VEGF value was positively correlated with body weight (r = 0.95). Immunohistochemical study of the biopsy specimen revealed that endothelia of the venules and some dendritic cells were positive for VEGF. We speculated that significant edematous changes in this patient were associated with VEGF, which is known as a vascular permeability factor based on its ability to induce vascular leakage.