Clinical Profile, Treatment, and Outcome of Patients with Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in Critically Ill Patients: A Prospective Observational Study

INTRODUCTION: The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical profile and outcome of patients with secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in critically ill patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted where critically ill adult patients presenting with fever and bicytopenia were evaluated according to the HLH-2004 diagnostic criteria for the presence of secondary HLH. The underlying trigger, clinical profile, treatment, and outcome of patients with HLH were analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 76 critically ill patients with fever and bicytopenia, 33 (43%) patients were diagnosed with HLH. The following triggers for HLH were identified: bacterial infections (23%), fungal infections (10%), viral infections (10%), parasitic infections (10%), autoimmune diseases (13%), and malignancy (8%). A total of 78% of the HLH cases received steroids, but the use of steroids was not associated with improvement in mortality. CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of HLH in patients presenting with fever and bicytopenia in critically ill adult patients. Infections were identified as the most common trigger of HLH. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Fazal F, Gupta N, Soneja M, Mitra DK, Satpathy G, Panda SK, et al. Clinical Profile, Treatment, and Outcome of Patients with Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in Critically Ill Patients: A Prospective Observational Study. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(5):564–567.