Bartonella henselae is a hitherto unidentified cause of autoimmune haemolytic anaemia. Here we report a case of Coombs‐negative autoimmune haemolytic anaemia. The episode was preceded by exposure to ...a cat and a non‐specific infectious syndrome. Concomitant serum titres of B. henselae antibodies were indicative of a recent infection. The case report suggests that B. henselae infection can trigger secondary autoimmune haemolytic anaemia.
We report the results of 65 patients with treatment-related myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)/acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) who were transplanted from an autograft and reported to the EBMT. The ...median age was 39 years (range, 3-69), and stem cell source was bone marrow (n = 31), or peripheral blood progenitor cells (n = 30), or the combination of both (n = 4). The primary disease was solid tumors (n = 37), Hodgkin's disease (n = 13), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n = 10), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 2) or myeloproliferative syndromes (n = 3). The types of MDS were as follows: RAEB (n = 1; 2%), RAEB-t (n = 3; 5%), or AML (n = 56; 87%). The median time between diagnosis and transplantation was 5 months (range, 3-86). The Kaplan-Meier estimates of the probability of 3-year overall and disease-free survival were 35% (95% CI: 21-49%) and 32% (95% CI: 18-45%), respectively. The median leukocyte engraftment was faster after transplantation with peripheral blood stem cells than with bone marrow: 12 (range, 9-26) vs 29 (range, 11-67) days (P<0.001). The cumulative incidence of relapse was 58% (95% CI: 44-72%) and of treatment-related mortality 12% (95% CI: 6-38%). Lower relapse rate was seen in patients transplanted in first complete remission (CR1 vs non-CR1: 3 years: 48 vs 89%; P = 0.05). Furthermore, age beyond 40 years resulted in a higher treatment-related mortality (47 vs 7%; P = 0.01). In a multivariate analysis, transplantation in CR1 age as well as their interaction influenced overall survival significantly. Autologous transplantation may cure a substantial number of patients with treatment-related MDS/AML, especially if they are in CR1 and of younger age.
Treatment-related myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloblastic leukemia (t-MDS/AML) have emerged as relevant complications of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for follicular lymphoma. ...Given the fact that also fludarabine-cyclophosphamide combination chemotherapy, which is increasingly used for primary treatment in CLL, has been implicated in induction of secondary stem cell disorders, t-MDS/AML might be a substantial problem after ASCT for CLL, too. Therefore the purpose of this study was to analyze the incidence and characteristics of t-MDS/AML among those patients who were autografted for CLL and registered in the EBMT database. For each case submitted between 1992 and 2004, centers received a questionaire asking for follow-up information with particular focus on t-MDS/AML.
Results: Of 1139 patients identified from the database, a reply was received for 457. After these 457 autotransplants, 18 cases of t-MDS/AML were observed, giving a crude rate of 3.9%. Median time from ASCT to t-MDS/AML was 28 (10–73) months. Patients with t-MDS/AML had received 2 (1–3) lines of conventional chemotherapy prior to ASCT, containing alkylating agents in 92% and fludarabine in 71% of the patients. Only a single patient had been pretreated with combined fludarabine-cyclophosphamide. High-dose regimens comprised total body irradiation in 71% of the t-MDS/AML cases; and mobilized peripheral blood was used as stem cell source in 92%, containing 2.9 (1.4–7.8) CD34+ cells/kg. Treatment of t-MDS/AML consisted of chemotherapy in 17%, ASCT in 6%, and allo-SCT in 17%, whereas the majority of the patients received supportive care only. Median survival from diagnosis of t-MDS/AML was 8 months with 2 of the 3 allografted patients being alive 10 and 13 months post diagnosis, respectively.
Conclusions: The incidence of t-MDS/AML after ASCT for CLL does not seem to exceed the range reported for follicular lymphoma. t-MDS/AML generally occurs within the first 6 years post transplant and has a very poor prognosis. A particular impact of fludarabine-cyclophosphamide pretreatment could not be detected.
Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) stimulates erythropoietic bone marrow cells and increases erythrocyte production. This prospective study was designed to evaluate the effects of rHuEPO on ...regeneration of erythropoiesis after allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Seventeen centers participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter trial. The randomization was performed centrally for each center and stratified according to allogeneic or autologous BMT and major ABO-blood group incompatibility. One hundred and six patients received rHuEPO after allogeneic BMT and 109 patients received placebo. After autologous BMT, 57 patients were treated with rHuEPO and 57 with placebo. Patients received either 150 IU/kg/day C127 mouse-cell-derived rHuEPO or placebo as continuous intravenous infusion. Therapy started after bone marrow infusion and lasted until independence from erythrocyte transfusions for 7 consecutive days with stable hemoglobin levels ≥9 g/100 mL or until day 41. After allogeneic BMT, the reticulocyte counts were significantly higher with rHuEPO from day 21 to day 42 after BMT. The median time (95% confidence intervals) to erythrocyte transfusion independence was 19 days (range, 16.3 to 21.6) with rHuEPO and 27 days (range, 22.3 to >42) with placebo (P < .003). The mean (±SD) numbers of erythrocyte transfusions until day 20 after BMT were 6.6 ± 4.8 with rHuEPO and 6.0 ± 3.8 with placebo. However, from day 21 to day 41, the rHuEPO-treated patients received 1.4 ± 2.5 (median, 0) transfusions and the control group received 2.7 ± 4.0 (median, 2) transfusions (P = .004). In the follow-up period from day 42 up to day 100, 2.4 ± 5.6 transfusions were required with rHuEPO and 4.5 ± 9.6 were required with placebo (P = .075). A multivariate analysis (ANOVA) showed that acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), major ABO-blood group incompatibility, age greater than 35 years, and hemorrhage significantly increased the number of transfusions. However, after day 20, rHuEPO significantly reduced the number of erythrocyte transfusions in these patient groups, as well as reducing incompatibility in the major ABO-blood group. For the whole study period, rHuEPO reduced the transfusion requirements in GVHD III and IV from 18.4 ± 8.6 to 8.5 ± 6.8 U (P = .05). After autologous BMT, there was no difference in the time to independence from erythrocyte transfusions and in the regeneration of reticulocytes. Marrow purging strongly increased the requirement for transfusions as well as the time to transfusion independence. rHuEPO had no relevant effect on regeneration of thrombopoiesis after allogeneic or autologous BMT. Overall, no major differences in side effects or complications between rHuEPO-treated and placebo-treated patients occurred. After allogeneic BMT, rHuEPO significantly accelerates the reconstitution of erythropoiesis and reduces the number of erythrocyte transfusions after day 20. The strongest effect occurs in patients with acute GVHD. After autologous BMT, rHuEPO has no clinically relevant effect on regeneration of erythropoiesis.
Ten different tests of blood neutrophil function were studied in 20 patients with primary myelodysplastic syndromes (PMDS). The patients were selected according to the new diagnostic criteria for ...PMDS of the FAB-cooperation group. Impairments of granulocyte functions were found in all patients. Moreover, several steps in the mobilization of granulocytes at the site of injury seemed to be affected: decreased adhesion (P less than 0.05), deficient chemotaxis (P less than 0.05), decreased enzyme content (P less than 0.001), 'slower' chemiluminescence (P less than 0.005), decreased phagocytosis (P less than 0.05) and impaired microbicidal capacity (P less than 0.025). No significant correlation between disease category and severity of granulocyte dysfunction was discerned, though an increasing number of blasts was associated with more severe granulocytic disability. Results in seven patients with abnormal karyotypes were not significantly different from 13 others with normal karyotypes. Our results indicate that defects in blood neutrophil function are a common feature in PMDS and might account for the increased frequency of infection in these patients.
The oxidative injury to erythrocytes, red blood cell (RBC) rigidity and splenic hemolysis was assayed in 17 chronically hemodialyzed patients before and during recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) ...treatment. When a stable hematocrit between 30 and 35% had been established for at least 4 months, a statistically significant increase in RBC volume, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, reticulocyte count, and several RBC enzymes (2,3-diphosphoglycerate, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase, hexokinase) was noted. This indicated significant RBC rejuvenation under the influence of EPO. However, no significant improvement in the RBC oxidative sensitivity, RBC deformability, splenic RBC volume, slow mixing splenic RBC volume, and the intrasplenic RBC transit time could be disclosed. These data confirm the existence of an extra-erythrocytic factor in uremic plasma, which is partly responsible for a reduced RBC life span in hemodialysis patients despite EPO treatment.
Infections during granulocytopenia are major complications of autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). Since recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhuGM-CSF) has ...proved to accelerate bone marrow recovery after cytostatic chemotherapy, we studied its effects on hematopoietic regeneration and on infectious complications after total body irradiation (TBI) and high-dose chemotherapy followed by ABMT. Eighty-one patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in complete remission (CR) or with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) in CR or partial remission were randomized in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. They received either rhuGM-CSF 250 µg/m2 (Escherichia coli-derived) daily by continuous infusion after ABMT, or placebo. Treatment was continued until the neutrophil counts reached greater than 500/µL for 1 week. The maximum treatment duration was 30 days. Thirty-nine patients in the rhuGM-CSF group and 40 patients in the placebo group were evaluable. The median time needed to reach a neutrophil count of 500/µL was 15 days with rhuGM-CSF and 28 days with placebo (P = .0001). Bacterial infections occurred in 14 (35.9%) of the patients with rhuGM-CSF and in 25 (62.5%) of the patients given the placebo (P = .024). Nine of the 14 bacterial infections in the rhuGM-CSF group and 20 of the 25 infections in the placebo group were diagnosed within the first 10 days after ABMT. Capillary leakage and a reversible fluid retention were seen in five of the rhuGM-CSF–treated patients. Patients treated with rhuGM-CSF had lower serum protein and albumin levels than patients in the placebo group. There was no statistically relevant difference in overall survival between the two groups (P = .47). Relapse occurred in 14 (34%) patients with rhuGM-CSF and in 18 (45%) patients with placebo. We conclude that continuous infusion of rhuGM-CSF after ABMT accelerates the regeneration of granulocytes and reduces the number of bacterial infections.
High-dose therapy with allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation (allo-SCT) from matched sibling donors has been shown to induce durable remissions in some patients with relapsed / refractory mantle ...cell lymphoma (MCL). The aim of this retrospective analysis from the LWP of the EBMT was to investigate the outcome of patients with MCL treated with an unrelated donor allo-SCT (MUD-allo). From January 1994 to July 2005, 66 patients with MCL, 51 males and 15 females, with a median age of 50 years (range, 22 to 68) underwent a MUD-allo and were reported to the EBMT registry. The median time from diagnosis to MUD-allo was 34 months (range, 6–131). Thirty-five patients (53%) had previously failed an autologous procedure (ASCT). Forty-five patients (68%) had sensitive disease (including 22 patients in complete remission) at transplantation, whereas 21 patients (32%) were allografted with refractory disease. Reduced intensity conditioning regimens (RIC) were used in 44 patients (67%). Patients treated with RIC were older, more heavily pre-treated and had more frequently failed an ASCT (46% vs 30%, p = 0.01) than patients treated with a conventional conditioning protocol. Total body irradiation (TBI) was used in 68% of the patients receiving conventional protocols and low-dose TBI in 23% of the RIC patients. Grade II–IV acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) developed in 35% of the cases. The cumulative incidence (CI) of non-relapse mortality (NRM) was of 21% at 6 mo and 27% at 12 mo. The CI of relapse was 35% at 1 year and 45% at 2 years. After a median follow up of 15 months (1–73), 25 patients are alive without progression, with an estimated PFS and OS at 2 years of 28% and 42%, respectively. RIC protocols were not associated with a lower NRM or a better survival. Refractory disease at MUD-allo was an adverse prognostic factor for PFS (RR 1.7; p = 0.006). Patients allografted in sensitive disease presented a better 2-year PFS and OS (34% and 48%, respectively). In conclusion, although follow up is still short, MUD-allo is a feasible procedure in poor prognosis MCL patients, with almost one third of them being alive and progression-free in this series. RIC protocols do not seem to offer any advantage in terms of long-term outcome in relation to conventional conditioning regimens.
In 4 chronic hemodialysis patients we have tested whether the administration of reduced glutathione (GSH; Glutamed, Boehringer Mannheim Italia; 1,200 mg i.v.) at the end of each hemodialytic session ...during 90 days could minimize oxidative damage to the red blood cells (RBC) and reduce the recombinant human erythropoietin requirements. Treatment with GSH was followed by an increase in RBC GSH content (n = 3), a normalization of the ascorbine cyanide test (n = 4), an increase in RBC survival (n = 3), and a reduction in 2 patients of the erythropoietin need (41 and 26%, respectively, after 3 months of therapy). When the GSH supplements were terminated, we noticed after 3 months a re-establishment of the baseline values. On the other hand, malonyldialdehyde, RBC deformability, and RBC splenic pool were abnormal before and remain abnormal during the test period. Since no adverse reactions were noticed, these findings seem to indicate the GSH could ameliorate the intraerythrocytic oxidative defense and could be as useful drug in the treatment of anemia in patients affected by chronic renal failure.
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