Veno-occlusive Disease in a Child with Rhabdomyosarcoma After Conventional Chemotherapy: Report of a Case and Review of the Literature

Although veno-occlusive disease of the liver is a well-known complication of high-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation, it has rarely been observed in children who receive conventional chemotherapy. Most cases in the literature consists of children with Wilms tumor. It has been very uncommon in rhabdomyosarcoma patients until recently, although they commonly receive similar anticancer agents. Here the authors report a 2-year-old boy with rhabdomyosarcoma who developed veno-occlusive disease while receiving VAC (vincristine, actinomycin D, cyclophosphamide) chemotherapy regimen according to the IRS-IV protocol. The patient gradually recovered during 2 weeks with supportive treatment only.