A case report of a patient with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia treated successively with thalidomide and bevacizumab

Abstract

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia is characterized by mucocutaneous and visceral telangiectasia and involves several organs with vascular malformations. It is an autosomal dominant disease and is distinguished into three types, which are due to mutations in different genes. The common symptom is anemia, causing a continous need of blood transfusion. Depending on the severity and disease manifestation, there are various forms of therapy ranging from local therapy activities to operations or drug therapy. Here we describe a dramatic improvement of a patient with a high transfusion frequency due to severe recurrent anemia successively treated with thalidomide and bevacizumab. © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.