Pel-Ebstein fever

Overview
Pel-Ebstein fever is a rarely seen condition noted in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma in which the patient experiences fevers which cyclicly increase then decrease over an average period of 1 or two weeks. The same type of cyclic fever is also associated with other conditions such tuberculosis, but it is not called "Pel-Ebstein fever" unless the fever is associated with Hodgkin's.

Causes
The cause is currently unknown although speculation centers on host immune response, lymph node necrosis, and damaged stomal cells.

Treatment
Treatment with nonsteroidal antiinflamitory agents or treatment of the underlying Hodgkin's (usually with chemotherapy) will help the symptoms.

Eponym
The condition is named after Wilhelm Ebstein and PK Pel who both published papers in 1887 noting the phenomenon.

Controversy
Researchers have speculated whether this condition truly exists. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Richard Asher refers to Pel-Ebstein fever as an example of a condition that exists only because it has a name. "Every student and every doctor knows that cases of Hodgkin's disease may show a fever that is high for one week and low for the next week and so on. Does this phenomenon really exist at all?..."