Improved outcomes over time and higher mortality in CMV seropositive allogeneic stem cell transplantation patients with COVID-19; An infectious disease working party study from the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation registry

Introduction: COVID-19 has been associated with high morbidity and mortality in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HCT) recipients. Methods: This study reports on 986 patients reported to the EBMT registry during the first 29 months of the pandemic. Results: The median age was 50.3 years (min – max; 1.0 – 80.7). The median time from most recent HCT to diagnosis of COVID-19 was 20 months (min – max; 0.0 – 383.9). The median time was 19.3 (0.0 - 287.6) months during 2020, 21.2 (0.1 - 324.5) months during 2021, and 19.7 (0.1 – 383.9) months during 2022 (p = NS). 145/986 (14.7%) patients died; 124 (12.6%) due to COVID-19 and 21 of other causes. Only 2/204 (1%) fully vaccinated patients died from COVID-19. There was a successive improvement in overall survival over time. In multivariate analysis, increasing age (p<.0001), worse performance status (p<.0001), contracting COVID-19 within the first 30 days (p<.0001) or 30 – 100 days after HCT (p=.003), ongoing immunosuppression (p=.004), pre-existing lung disease (p=.003), and recipient CMV seropositivity (p=.004) had negative impact on overall survival while patients contracting COVID-19 in 2020 (p<.0001) or 2021 (p=.027) had worse overall survival than patients with COVID-19 diagnosed in 2022. Discussion: Although the outcome of COVID-19 has improved, patients having risk factors were still at risk for severe COVID-19 including death

Secondary Infections in Cancer Patients with Febrile Neutropenia

OBJECTIVE: Patients with neutropenia due to cancer chemotherapy are prone to severe infections. Cancer patients can experience >1 infectious episode during the same period of neutropenia. This study aimed to determine the etiological and clinical characteristics of secondary infectious episodes in cancer patients with febrile neutropenia and to identify the factors associated with the risk of secondary infectious episodes. METHODS: All cancer patients that received antineoplastic chemotherapy at Ankara University, School of Medicine, Department of Hematology between May 2004 and May 2005 and developed neutropenia were included in the study. Data were collected using survey forms that were completed during routine infectious diseases consultation visits. Categorical data were analyzed using the chi-square test, whereas Student’s t-test was used for continuous variables. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of secondary infections (SIs). RESULTS: SIs were observed during 138 (53%) of 259 febrile neutropenic episodes. Of the 138 episodes, 89 (64.5%) occurred in male patients with a mean age of 40.9 years (range: 17-76 years). In total, 80% of the SIs were clinically or microbiologically documented. Factors on d 4 of the initial febrile episode were analyzed via a logistic regression model. The presence of a central intravenous catheter (OR: 3.01; P < 0.001), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as the underlying disease (OR: 2.12; P = 0.008), diarrhea (OR: 4.59; P = 0.005), and invasive aspergillosis (IA) during the initial febrile episode (OR: 3.96; P = 0.009) were statistically significant risk factors for SIs. CONCLUSION: Among the cancer patients with neutropenia in the present study, AML as the underlying disease, the presence of a central venous catheter, diarrhea, and IA during the initial febrile episode were risk factors for the development of SIs

Primary Breast Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (MALT) Lymphoma Transformation to Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma: A Case Report

Primary non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) of the breast constitutes 0.04%-0.53% of all malignancies and 2.2% of extra nodal lymphomas. In total, 7%-8% of all B-cell lymphomas are the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type, of which up to 50% of primary gastric MALT lymphoma. Herein we present a patient with breast MALT lymphoma that transformed to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). A 69-year-old female presented with a mass on her left breast. Physical examination showed a 3 × 3-cm mass located 1 cm from the areola on the upper lateral quadrant of the breast at the 1 o’clock position, which was fixed and firm. Excisional biopsy was performed and pathologic examination of the specimen showed MALT lymphoma transformation to DLBCL. The patient was staged as II-EA. The rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (R-CHOP) protocol was scheduled as treatment. Following 6 courses of R-CHOP, 2 additional courses of rituximab were administered. Positron emission tomography (PET)-CT was done at the end of the treatment. PET showed that the patient was in complete remission. At the time this report was written, the patient was being followed-up at the outpatient clinic on a regular basis. Lymphoma of the breast is a rarity among malignant tumors of the breast. The most common type of lymphoma is DLBCL. Breast MALT lymphoma is extremely rare. Primary MALT lymphoma of the breast can transform from low grade to high grade and recurrence is possible; therefore, such patients should be monitored carefully for transformation

Is the end close for the graft-versus-host disease that is a big problem following allogeneic hematopoetic stem cell transplantation?

60th Annual Meeting of the American-Society-of-Hematology (ASH) -- DEC 01-04, 2018 -- San Diego, CAWOS: 000454842807143…American Society of Hematolog

Ibrutinib as a promising treatment for pulmonary complications due to refractory chronic graft versus host disease

Introduction: Despite major improvements in allogeneic hematopoetic stem cell transplantation form matched related/ unrelated donor over last decades, chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is still the leading cause of late treatmentrelated deaths among recipients. Ibrutinib is a first class inhibitor of BTK was recently employed in corticosteroid-refractory chronic GVHD with encouraging overall response rates Herein, we share a real-life experience using ibrutinib in the treatment of steroid-refractory cGVHD. Patients and Methods This multicenter retrospective study conducted in 10 different stem cell transplant centers included 44 adult patients diagnosed with steroid-refractory cGVHD. We treated off-label these patients from June 2017 to July 2019 with ibrutinib with a dose of 420 mg. Organ sites affected and cGVHD grading were classified according to the NIH 2014 criteria. Results Patients had undergone both myeloablative and non-myeloablative Allo-SCT for a variety of underlying hematological malignancies. As expected mouth and skin were the most frequently involved organs and 67 % of patients showed evidence of cGVHD in more than two organs. The median Karnofsky Performance Status score was 65%. At a median follow-up of 22.3 months (range 7.1-109 months) after evidence of cGVHD showed, 36 (81.8%) patients were still receiving ibrutinib and 4 (9.1%) had discontinued treatment, because of cGVHD progression. Treatment duration ranged from 2 to 12 months (median 6 months) for all patients. Only three patients had grade 2 muscle spasm, arrhythmia and diarrhea as adverse events and need to reduce the 25% of drug dosage. No several adverse events due to ibrutinib were observed in our cohort. In the all treated population, based on the 2005 NIH cGVHD Consensus Panel response criteria, 45.5% PR and 20.5% CR were achieved. Six patients had progression on manifestations of cGVHD. For the responders, the median time to initial response was 28 days. Nine patients had stable disease under the ibrutinib treatment and still continue receiving. Analysis by organ domain showed similar rates of response in the lung (76.4%) skin (66.7%), and GIS (57.1%). However the response in the liver (54.2%) was lower than the others. Out of 17 patients with bronchiolitis obliterans as a manifestation of cGVHD, we observed an immediate improvement in stability of FEV1 decline that persisted over the study period despite the decreased steroid dosing in 13 patients, 3 patients had stable FEV1 and only 1 patient had reduction in FEV1. Discussion Our study suggests that ibrutinib is a safe and effective agent that reduces steroid requirements and stabilizes lung function in patients with bronchiolitis obliterans as a manifestation of cGVHD. Our study adds to a growing body of evidence for ibrutinib's use in cGVHD. It is important to note that, larger prospective studies are needed to verify and augment our findings.American Society for Transplantation & Cellular TherapyCIBMT

Unmet clinical needs and challenges in the management of acute leukemia in Turkey: a modified Delphi study

Aim: To determine the unmet needs and challenges in management, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and patient-physician communication in acute leukemia (AL). Materials & methods: The study was based on a modified Delphi approach. A questionnaire including the major potential obstacles was circulated twice among 13 hematologists. Results: The obstacles in AL management were limited access to the novel treatments and genetic tests, limited bed capacity, insufficient level of knowledge among allied health personnel, limited availability of psycho-oncological support and low levels of awareness in the population about the importance of stem cell donation. Conclusion: The challenges in the management of AL are critical to guide the efforts to improve the quality of healthcare delivery and the evidence-based decision making at treatment of AL patients

An interim analysis of the Turkish Myeloma Registry among patients who have received up to two lines of therapy

Background To investigate the demographics and treatment details of the myeloma patients who were diagnosed and followed up in Turkey and received up to two lines of therapy. Methods Patients who were recorded on the database of Turkish Myeloma Registry project were included in this study if they had only received one or two lines of therapy. Demographics, patient, and disease related parameters both at the time of diagnosis and at the follow up and treatment outcomes were presented