Life Science Encyclopedia

Pel-Ebstein fever is a rarely seen condition noted in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma in which the patient experiences fevers which cyclicly increase then decrease over an average period of 1 or two weeks. ^[1] The same type of cyclic fever is also associated with other conditions such as tuberculosis^[2], but it is not called "Pel-Ebstein fever" unless the fever is associated with Hodgkin's.^[3]

Causes

The cause is currently unknown although speculation centers on host immune response, lymph node necrosis, and damaged stomal cells. ^[4]

Treatment

Treatment with nonsteroidal antiinflamitory agents or treatment of the underlying Hodgkin's (usually with chemotherapy) will help the symptoms. ^[1]

Eponym

The condition is named after Wilhelm Ebstein and PK Pel who both published papers in 1887 noting the phenomenon. ^{[5] [6] [2]}

Controversy

Researchers have speculated whether this condition truly exists. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, 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?..." ^[7]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Mauch, Peter; James Armitage, Volker Diehl, Richard Hoppe, Laurence Weiss (1999). Hodgkin's Disease. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 327-328. ISBN 0-7817-1502-4. 
2. ^ ^{a b} synd/438 at Who Named It
3. ^ eMedicine - Pel-Ebstein Fever : Article by Ephraim P Hochberg, MD. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
4. ^ Ree, HJ (1987). "Stromal macrophage-histiocytes in Hodgkin's disease. Their relation to fever.". Cancer 60 (1479).
5. ^ Ebstein, Wilhelm (1887). "Das chronische Ruckfallsfieber, eine neue Infectionskrankheit". Berlin Klin Wochenschr 24 (565).
6. ^ Pel, PK (1887). "Pseudoleukaemie oder chronisches Ruckfallsfieber?". Berlin Klin Wochenschr 24 (565).
7. ^ Asher, Richard (July 6, 1995). "Making Sense". The New England Journal of Medicine 333.