Etoposide combined with ruxolitinib for refractory hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis during pregnancy: a case report and literature review

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an immune-mediated disorder caused by uncontrolled inflammatory responses and the activation of T lymphocytes. This life-threatening disease, characterized by fever, cytopenia and hepatosplenomegaly, is extremely rare during pregnancy with high mortality. Despite the improvement of treatment regimen in recent years, HLH is still a great challenge for clinicians. Here, we described a 26-year-old woman who admitted to our hospital at her first pregnancy with pyrexia. Her condition continued to deteriorate after receiving broad-spectrum antimicrobials, presenting with fever, pancytopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, ferritin ≥ 500 μg/L, hemophagocytosis and low NK-cell activity. HLH was eventually diagnosed by clinical manifestation and laboratory examination results. Then the patient recovered well after treatment with etoposide combined with ruxolitinib therapy and underwent successful induced-labor operation. Additionally, we summarized similar cases from the literature to improve the management of HLH during pregnancy. In conclusion, this study highlights the challenges and difficulties in the diagnosis and management of patients with HLH during pregnancy. Moreover, this is the first case report of etoposide combined with ruxolitinib in the treatment of patients with refractory secondary HLH during pregnancy.