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Response of Gaucher bone disease to enzyme replacement therapy

¹ Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, ² Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ³ Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, USA, ⁴ Department of Radiology, Musculoskeletal MRI Section, Miguel Servet Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain, ⁵ Burlo Garofolo Institute, Trieste, Italy and ⁶ University Gaucher Research Foundation Inc., University Gaucher Treatment Center, Tamarac, Florida, USA

Correspondence: Ludger W Poll, Institute of Diagnostic Radiology, Heinrich Heine University, Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. Tel. +49 211 81 17752; Fax +49 211 81 16145; email polll{at}uni-duesseldorf.de

In Gaucher disease, enzyme replacement therapy usually reduces liver and spleen volumes and improves haematological abnormalities within 1 year. In contrast, skeletal manifestations of Gaucher disease are thought to respond more slowly. For example, decreased bone marrow glycolipid infiltration and increased bone mineral density have been reported to take up to 3–4 years of treatment. In this report, we present recent studies using T₁- and T₂-weighted MRI and quantitative chemical shift imaging that demonstrate decreases in abnormal glucocerebroside infiltration and increases in normal fat content of bone marrow within the first year of treatment. There was no obvious relationship between age, gender, splenectomy status or genotype and the response of bone marrow to therapy. Although the dose of enzyme replacement therapy may be related to bone marrow response, no significant relationship was demonstrated in this report. Long-term enzyme replacement therapy induces continued degradation of Gaucher cell deposits, reconversion of fat marrow and increased bone mineral density. This treatment is also associated with improved or non-progressive bone symptoms and functional status in most adult patients, and it prevents the new occurrence of bone pain and bone crisis in nearly all patients. The development of more sensitive, quantitative imaging methods will help to evaluate disease severity better and to assess the response to therapy.

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