Alpha heavy chain disease (report of 18 cases from Iraq)

The clinical and pathological features of 18 new patients with alpha heavy chain disease seen at two referral centres in Baghdad, Iraq, are described. The series included 14 males and four females ranging in age from 14 to 47 years. Almost all patients presented because of long-standing abdominal pain and diarrhoea. The tissue diagnosis and extent of the disease were established at laparotomy in most patients. Peroral jejunal biopsy was used in a number of patients, mainly for follow-up. The serological abnormality was confirmed by immunoselection technique. Most of the patients had extensive thickening of the bowel wall and/or tumour masses of the small intestine and mesenteric nodes. Histopathological sections showed lymphoplasmacytic proliferation involving the mucosa and extending to the submucosa and muscularis. Preliminary results of the treatment, including two long remissions, are reported. In general, our observations agree with those made by other authors, mostly from the Middle East and Africa. We believe that a high index of clinical suspicion, routine use of the immunoselection, and recognition of the early pathological changes may hopefully lead to the detection of more cases before the frank neoplastic phase of the disease.