3-Tesla MR spectroscopy in patients subjected to bone marrow transplantation: clinical correlations.

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the usefulness of 3-Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve NHL patients who were candidates for BMT underwent three MR examinations of the lumbosacral spine: before ablative therapy for BMT, 15±4 days and 54±24 days after BMT. The MR study was supplemented by spectroscopic analysis. The lipid content was calculated and expressed as a percentage of lipid signal intensity relative to total signal intensity [fat fraction (FF)]. RESULTS: In the first MR study, the FF was 62.5±7%, in the second it was 70.75±5% and in the third it was 75±1%. We observed a statistically significant difference between FF values calculated at the various MR studies (p=0.02) and between red blood cell count (p=0.017), platelet count (p=0.003) and haematocrit (p<0.001) at the three MR studies. FF had a statistically significant correlation with the number of circulating platelets (p<0.01) CONCLUSIONS: MR spectroscopy of the bone marrow of NHL patients undergoing BMT is noninvasive and highly sensitive for characterising and monitoring bone marrow after BMT

Infections caused by filamentous fungi in patients with hematologic malignancies. A report of 391 cases by GIMEMA Infection Program.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with hematologic malignancies developing a filamentous fungi infection (FFI) and to define the prognostic factors for their outcome. DESIGN AND METHODS: A retrospective study, conducted on patients admitted to 14 Hematology divisions of tertiary care or university hospitals, participating in the GIMEMA Infection Program, over a ten-year period (1988-1997). The study included patients with hematological malignancies and a histologically and/or microbiologically proven or probable FFI. RESULTS: We included 391 patients (male/female: 262/129, median age 49 years) with hematologic malignancies (225 acute myeloid leukemia, 67 acute lymphocytic leukemia, 30 chronic myeloid leukemia, 22 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 12 myelodysplastic syndrome, 10 aplastic anemia, 7 Hodgkin's disease, 8 chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 5 multiple myeloma, and 5 hairy cell leukemia) who developed a proven FFI. Eighty percent of the patients had been neutropenic for an average of 14 days before the infection, and 71% had an absolute neutrophil count lower than 0.5 x 10(9)/L at the time of FFI diagnosis. The primary sites of infection were: lungs (85%), nose and paranasal sinus (10%), and other sites (5%). The diagnosis was made while still alive in 310 patients (79%), and at autopsy in the remaining 81 patients (21%). Chest X-ray was diagnostic in 77% of patients with pulmonary FFI, while computed tomography (CT) scan of the thorax was positive in 95% of cases. A significant diagnostic advantage for CT scan was observed in 145 patients who had both a chest X-ray and CT scan. Aspergillus was identified as the cause of FFI in 296 patients, Mucorales in 45 patients, Fusarium in 6 patients and other filamentous fungi species in 4 patients, while in a further 40 patients no agent was identifiable. The overall mortality rate three months after the diagnosis of FFI was 74%, and fungal infection had been the cause of death in 51% of patients. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Our retrospective study shows that FFI still remains a life-threatening complication in neutropenic patients. Despite appropriate treatment, half of the patients die due to this complication. The use of glucocorticoids and recovery from neutropenia are the most important prognostic factors. Mucorales infections are associated with a significantly poorer prognosis than those due to Aspergillus spp

Haploidentical, unmanipulated,G-CSF primed bona marrow transplantation for patients with high risk hematological malignancies

Eighty patients with high-risk hematologic malignancies underwent unmanipulated, G-CSF–primed BM transplantation from an haploidentical family donor. Patients were transplanted in first or second complete remission (CR, standard-risk: n =45) or in &gt; second CR or active disease (high-risk: n =35). The same regimen for GVHD prophylaxis was used in all cases. The cumulative incidence (CI) of neutrophil engraftment was 93% 0.1%. The 100-day CIs for II-IV and III-IV grade of acute GVHD were 24% 0.2% and 5% 0.6%, respectively. The 2-year CI of extensive chronic GVHD was 6% 0.1%. The 1-year CI of treatment-related mortality was 36% 0.3%. After a median follow-up of 18 months, 36 of 80 (45%) patients are alive in CR. The 3-year probability of overall and disease-free survival for standard-risk and high-risk patients was 54% 8% and 33% 9% and 44% 8% and 30% 9%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, disease-free survival was significantly better for patients who had standard-risk disease and received transplantations after 2007. We conclude that unmanipulated, G-CSF–primed BM transplantation from haploidentical family donor provides very encouraging results in terms of engraftment rate, incidence of GVHD and survival and represents a feasible, valid alternative for patients with high-risk malignant hematologic diseases, lacking an HLA identical sibling and in need to be urgently transplanted

Incidence and Outcome of Invasive Fungal Diseases after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Prospective Study of the Gruppo Italiano Trapianto Midollo Osseo (GITMO).

AbstractEpidemiologic investigation of invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) may be useful to identify subpopulations who might benefit from targeted treatment strategies. The Gruppo Italiano Trapianto Midollo Osseo (GITMO) prospectively registered data on 1858 consecutive patients undergoing allo-HSCT between 2008 and 2010. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for proven/probable IFD (PP-IFD) during the early (days 0 to 40), late (days 41 to 100), and very late (days 101 to 365) phases after allo-HSCT and to evaluate the impact of PP-IFDs on 1-year overall survival. The cumulative incidence of PP-IFDs was 5.1% at 40 days, 6.7% at 100 days, and 8.8% at 12 months post-transplantation. Multivariate analysis identified the following variables as associated with PP-IFDs: transplant from an unrelated volunteer donor or cord blood, active acute leukemia at the time of transplantation, and an IFD before transplantation in the early phase; transplant from an unrelated volunteer donor or cord blood and grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in the late phase; and grade II-IV acute GVHD and extensive chronic GVHD in the very late phase. The risk for PP-IFD was significantly higher when acute GVHD was followed by chronic GVHD and when acute GVHD occurred in patients undergoing transplantation with grafts from other than matched related donors. The presence of PP-IFD was an independent factor in long-term survival (hazard ratio, 2.90; 95% confidence interval, 2.32 to 3.62; P < .0001). Our findings indicate that tailored prevention strategies may be useful in subpopulations at differing levels of risk for PP-IFDs

aplastic anemia and viral hepatitis

Acquired aplastic anemia (aAA) is a severe and rare disease, characterized by hematopoietic bone marrow failure and peripheral cytopenia. The pathophysiology is immune mediated in most cases, activated T1 lymphocytes have been identified as effector cells. The disease can be successfully treated with combined immunosuppressive therapy or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia (HAA) is a syndrome of bone marrow failure following the development of acute seronegative hepatitis. HAA syndrome most often affects young males who presented severe pancytopenia two to three months after an episode of acute hepatitis. The clinical course of hepatitis is more frequently benign but a fulminant severe course is also described. The bone marrow failure can be explosive and severe and it is usually fatal if untreated, no correlations have been observed between severity of hepatitis and AA. In none of the studies a specific virus could be identified and most cases are seronegative for known hepatitis viruses. The clinical characteristics and response to immunotherapy indicate a central role for immune-mediated mechanism in the pathogenesis of HAA. The initial target organ of the immune response is the liver as suggested by the time interval between hepatitis and the onset of bone marrow failure. Liver histology is characterized by T cell infiltrating the parenchyma as reported in acute hepatitis. Recently in HAA it has been demonstrated intrahepatic and blood lymphocytes with T cell repertoire similar to that of confirmed viral acute hepatitis. The expanded T cell clones return to a normal distribution after response to immunosuppressive treatment, suggesting the antigen or T cell clearance. Therapeutic options are the same as acquired aplastic anemia

Aspergillus niger infection in patients with haematological diseases: a report of eight cases

In this paper we analysed clinical, laboratory characteristics and outcome of patients with haematological diseases who developed an Aspergillus niger infection, in a multicentre study involving 14 Italian Haematological Divisions during a 10-year period. The study recorded 194 consecutive microbiologically documented aspergilloses, eight of which (4%) were due to A. niger, and were observed only in five of the participating centres. The primary localization of infection was lung in seven cases and paranasal sinus in one case. Seven patients died at the end of follow-up. The death was mainly attributable to A. niger progression in six of them. Our study that collected the largest number of cases of A. niger infection in haematological malignancies confirms that this infrequent complication is characterized by a high mortality rate