Combination of chemotherapy and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for elderly patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell tumor: a case report and literature review

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a highly malignant hematological disease that is extremely rare in clinical practice, prone to recurrence, and has a very poor prognosis. Patients with this disease present with diverse clinical manifestations, including anemia, fever, bleeding, lymph node enlargement, and bone marrow invasion, which can easily lead to misdiagnosis as other hematological diseases. Other symptoms include skin lesions, cytopenia, bone marrow and lymph node or organ involvement. This disease often presents with skin manifestations as the first symptom, and the skin lesions are diverse, making it prone to missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis. The diagnosis of this disease usually requires a combination of clinical manifestations, imaging, histological features, and immunophenotype. Currently, there is no consensus on the first-line treatment for BPDCN. Our hospital admitted a 66-year-old male patient with the first manifestation of purple-red skin plaques and masses on the left lower extremity. The immunophenotype and histopathological characteristics were consistent with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm. This report presents the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy bridging allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in this patient and reviews relevant literature, hoping to enhance clinicians' understanding and awareness of this disease.