Relapse of T-cell all after stem cell transplant presenting as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: the value of non-invasive diagnostic imaging in detecting cardiac leukemia.

We describe a 14-year-old female with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with a mediastinal mass at diagnosis who developed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) after stem cell transplantation (SCT). During refractory relapse after SCT using bone marrow from her HLA-matched sibling, she underwent whole thorax irradiation because of pleural effusion and a recurrent mediastinal mass. After a second SCT using peripheral blood from the same donor, she developed HC suspected to be related to tacrolimus. However, isolated cardiac relapse was finally diagnosed by several non-invasive imaging techniques. Cardiac irradiation resolved her cardiac failure, though she eventually developed progressive and fatal hematological disease. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.