Successful allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for acute myelogenous leukemia after drug-induced cardiomyopathy.

Anthracycline derivatives often induce cardiomyopathy. Patients with seriously decreased cardiac function due to chemotherapeutic drugs cannot usually receive allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) for hematologic disorders. We successfully performed allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in a patient with severe cardiomyopathy. An 18-year-old woman with relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia had cardiomyopathy due to previous anthracycline administration. She underwent allogeneic BMT from her HLA-identical brother. Her preconditioning regimen was cytosine arabinoside, etoposide, total body irradiation, and high-dose cyclophosphamide. Congestive heart failure (CHF) was not present before BMT. Right heart pressures were monitored by a pulmonary arterial balloon catheter system (Swan-Ganz catheter). After BMT, she had severe CHF, which was controlled using pimobendan and amrinone. Patients with cardiomyopathy can receive allogeneic SCT under strict hemodynamic management.