[Fatal bone marrow necrosis and fat embolism following sepsis in a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia after consolidation chemotherapy].

We report a 58-year-old Japanese man with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. On the seventh day of his second course of consolidation therapy, he developed herpes zoster, and on the 17th day, he developed a high fever, dyspnea, and lapsed into a coma. Streptococcus constellatus was isolated from blood culture. Despite intensive therapy, multiple organ failure progressed rapidly, and he died on the 19th day. Pathological examination of autopsy specimens revealed bone marrow necrosis and fat embolism in multiple organs. In this patient, sepsis led to bone marrow necrosis and, subsequently, to fat embolism.