Pel–Ebstein fever is a rarely seen condition noted in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma in which the patient experiences fevers which cyclically increase then decrease over an average period of one or two weeks.[2] A cyclic fever may also be associated with other conditions, but it is not called『Pel–Ebstein fever』unless the fever is associated with Hodgkin's.[3]
The cause is currently unknown although speculation centers on host immune response – particularly the cyclical release of cytokines, lymph node necrosis, and damaged stromal cells.[4]
Cyclical fevers normally require periodic temperature monitoring to detect, though it is possible one could sense subjective changes in body temperature as well. To count as Pel-Ebstein fever diagnostic workup for Hodgkin's lymphoma would be required as well if that diagnosis was not already made.[citation needed]
The condition is named after Wilhelm Ebstein and P. K. Pel who both published papers in 1887 noting the phenomenon.[5][6][7] Both doctors published in the same journal, though Pel published first by several months. A long-term dispute persisted between Pel and Ebstein on the etiology of the condition.[citation needed]
Researchers have speculated whether this condition truly exists, since some authorities anecdotally estimate only a 5–10% occurrence rate.[3] In his Lettsomian Lecture Making Sense, delivered to the Medical Society of London in 1959, 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?..."[8]
^Hilson, A.J.W.; DiNubile, M.J. (1995-07-06). "Correspondence". New England Journal of Medicine. 333 (1): 66–67. doi:10.1056/NEJM199507063330118. PMID7777006.. They cite Richard Asher's lecture Making Sense (Lancet, 1959, 2, 359)