Capillary Leakage Syndrome

Capillary Leak Syndrome

A condition in which the size of the pores in the capillaries are increased, leading to a leakage of 10+ litres of fluid into the interstitial space, resulting in haemoconcentration, hypoalbuminaemia, severe hypotension, generalised oedema and multiple organ failure— cardiopulmonary collapse, and acute renal failure—due to acute tubular necrosis following hypovolemia, rhabdomyolysis, due to reduced perfusion, causing progressive dyspnea and pericarditis, high fever, confusion, and disorientation
Aetiology Cytokine therapy with IL-2, GM-CSF, used to treat metastatic cancer
Prognosis The high mortality in early reports has been reduced by prophylactic therapy using terbutaline, theophyllin

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capillary leakage syndrome

Progressive dyspnea and pericarditis, which may occur in therapy with GM-CSF, which has been used to treat metastatic CAs; a similar response may occur in IL-2 therapy, where large amounts of fluid–10-20 liters are held hostage in peripheral tissues, and accompanied by high fever, confusion, and disorientation. See GM-CSF.