Fatal haemophagocytic syndrome

A fulminant clinical presentation with high fever and hepatosplenomegaly, together with a course of worsening pancytopenia, coagulopathy and liver failure, is suggestive of the haem syndrome (HPS). Bone marrow examination is diagnostic. We present 3 cases of HPS associated with different aetiologies including acute Ebstein Barr virus infection, T cell lymphoma, and malignant histiocytosis. In all the cases, the diagnosis was made late and the patients succumbed before definitive therapy could be administered.