Improvement of diabetes insipidus after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome

A 45-year-old male was diagnosed as having myelodysplastic syndrome (RAEB) in March 2001. He was admitted to our hospital because of cellulitis in his left lower limb in May. The blood cell count showed pancytopenia and immature myeloid cells were seen in the peripheral blood. Bone marrow aspiration showed the proliferation of myeloblasts (11.2%) and complex karyotypic abnormalities were detected including the long arm deletion of chromosome 7. The patient developed polyuria and polydipsia after admission and was diagnosed as having central diabetes insipidus. He was treated with DDAVP and the polyuria disappeared. In November, he underwent unrelated allogeneic bone marrow transplantation after conditioning with total body irradiation and cytarabine. After transplantation DDAVP was no longer required. Central diabetes insipidus has been reported as a rare complication of leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The complete remission of diabetes insipidus after bone marrow transplantation suggests that the infiltration of leukemic cells into the pituitary gland caused the diabetes insipidus in this case.