Quetiapine monotherapy in bipolar i disorder: A 1-year stabilization in a woman having undergone bone marrow transplantation

Queatiapine has been used in bipolar mania and most recently in bipolar depression with good results; however, its use in maintenance treatment has not been established yet. A case of a woman suffering from bipolar I disorder who underwent bone marrow transplantation twice because of leukaemia is presented. The use of quetiapine as a monotherapy was efficient and safe and proved to be a good treatment in mood stabilization for 1 year. © 2010 Informa UK Ltd

Stasis dermatitis-like leukaemic infiltration in a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome

We report a case of leukaemia cutis presenting as stasis dermatitis-like eruption in a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome progressing to acute myelogenic leukaemia. © 2008 The Author(s)

Rosuvastatin-induced thrombocytopenia

Rosuvastatin, a statin indicated for patients with primary hypercholesterolemia, mixed dyslipidemia and familial hypercholesterolemia, is well tolerated by most patients. Its most common adverse effects are gastrointestinal derangement, muscle aches and hepatitis. One rare complication of statin treatment is severe thrombocytopenia. The case of a 65-year-old patient who developed severe thrombocytopenia while on rosuvastatin is presented, in addition to a review of the literature. Copyright © 2010 by The Southern Medical Association

Extracorporeal photopheresis in the treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease. The Hellenic experience: A study by the Hellenic association of hematology

The Hellenic experience regarding the efficacy of extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) in the treatment of 58 patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is presented in this article. All 58, except one patient, had failed at least one line of immunosuppressive treatment including steroids.Thirty-three out of 58 patients showed an objective overall response to ECP in a median time of 10. weeks after the onset of treatment. The cumulative incidence of overall response was 65.1%. In multivariate analysis, the presence of severe chronic GVHD was the only parameter associated with a significantly lower probability of response to treatment (RR=0.4, CI 95% 0.2-0.9, p=0.03). Responders to treatment with ECP were more likely to discontinue immunosuppression, had a lower probability of non-relapse mortality (RR=0.2, CI 95% 0.1-0.5, p=0.002), and a higher probability of overall survival (RR=7.8, CI 95% 3-20, p<. 0.001) in comparison with non-responders. Eight out of 58 patients experienced relapse of the original disease. The cumulative incidence of relapse in the group of responders to ECP was 6%, while it was 25% in the group of non-responders to ECP. In multivariate analysis, response to treatment with ECP was the only parameter statistically associated with a significantly decreased hazard of relapse (RR=0.1, CI 95% 0.1-0.7, p=0.02). ECP should be tested as first-line treatment in patients with cGVHD with the aim to minimize the duration of immunosuppression and the rate of relapse of the malignant disease. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd

Management of cutaneous T-Cell lymphoma patients with extracorporeal photopheresis. The hellenic experience

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an established therapy for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The objective of this study was to further explore the clinical efficacy of ECP combined with immunomodulatory agents.Eighteen patients with histologically proven CTCL were followed-up after therapy with ECP, mainly combined with interferon-α or bexarotene.A total of 61% of patients responded to therapy (n=11; CR: 5, PR: 6). Median survival was 51. months, progression free survival was 28. months and response duration was 29±23.9. months.ECP combined therapy was highly effective or had a palliative effect in CTCL resistant to previous treatments. © 2011