This study aimed to characterize patient risk groups and respective prognostic profiles to optimize clinical decision-making and guide appropriate medical cytomegalovirus (CMV) management among patients with solid organ transplant (SOT).
Between September 2021 and February 2022, a three-round modified Delphi study was conducted to generate consensus among 14 international experts in virology and organ transplantation. Experts were asked about treatment and prognoses for patients in seven distinct clinical scenarios. Furthermore, experts were asked to risk-stratify patients by pre-/post-transplant characteristics. Consensus around opting for/against a treatment was observed if ≥75% or <25% of experts reported ≥50% likelihood to recommend or if treatments were ranked inside/outside the top two options and ≥75% of experts were within 1 standard deviation of the mean rank.
Experts agreed on several unmet needs in CMV disease management post-SOT, particularly avoidance of treatment-limiting toxicities with conventional CMV therapy and emergence of both primary refractory and drug resistant treatment failures. Experts considered CMV viral load, resistance profile, and route of administration as critical to treatment selection. For newer CMV therapeutic options, experts listed lack of long-term use data, concerns over potential resistance, high cost and limited availability as challenges restricting adoption, and successful patient management.
Experts achieved consensus around patient risk stratifications and factors influencing therapeutic options. Recommendations emerging from this Delphi study may support practicing physicians when confronted with challenging CMV scenarios in SOT patients, but additional experiences with newer anti-CMV agents are needed to re-validate expert consensus and update post-transplant CMV guidelines.

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Reasons for leukopenia can be numerous. To get close to the diagnosis it\'s always useful to check previous blood counts of the patient to get a feeling for the dynamic development of the leukopenia. Furthermore, it\'s important to check the red blood cell count and platelet count as well; a bi- or a pancytopenia usually implies an insufficient production in the bone marrow. Nevertheless, a manual counted peripheral blood smear is an essential step towards the right diagnosis in leukopenia: Beside cell counts of the single subgroups of leucocytes it also provides information on potential causes such as dysplasia.Leukopenia can be life-threatening for the patient especially if the patient presents with an agranulocytosis and fever: In this case admission is mandatory and the patient has to be treated immediately with broad-spectrum antibiotics to reduce mortality.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the number and volume of red blood cell transfusions (RBCTs) in very low birth weight infants under restrictive red blood cell transfusion guidelines with and without erythropoietin administration.
METHODS: In a controlled clinical trial conducted at the neonatal intensive care unit of Alzahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, between April 2002 to April 2004, 60 premature infants with gestational age up to 34 weeks, birth weight up to 1500 g, and postnatal age between 8 and 14 days were included. The newborns were randomized into 2 groups: Group 1 received 3 doses of 400 IU/kg erythropoietin per week for 6 weeks, and Group 2 received no treatment aside from their conventional medications.
RESULTS: The 2 groups did not differ significantly with respect to their mean gestational age, birth weight and hematocrit at the study entry. Fewer transfusions were administered to those receiving erythropoietin (26.7% versus 50%, p=0.03), but there was no statistically significant difference between groups with respect to volume of transfusion. Compared with the placebo group, the infants receiving erythropoietin had a higher mean hematocrit (34% +/- 4.3 versus 29% +/- 5.9, p<0.001) and absolute reticulocyte count (57 +/- 19 versus 10 +/- 4.8 x 106, p<0.001) at the end of the study. We found no significant difference in the incidence of thrombocytopenia and leukopenia between the 2 groups.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that when the restrictive RBCT guidelines were followed, treatment with erythropoietin can be useful in reduction of the number of RBCTs.

GUIDELINE: Because leukopenia is relatively common after kidney transplantation, regular screening and careful evaluation of its causes are recommended. Azathioprine and mycophenolate mofetil may lead to leukopenia. The combination of allopurinol and azathioprine should be avoided. Leukopenia is often associated with viral infections.

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The use of an official drug adverse reaction assessment procedure became compulsory in France in 1984. The method proposed various qualifications for the semiologic and chronologic criteria used to ascribe a disorder to a specific drug but did not define them. Consensus meetings have been organized in order to define, in the main pathological fields, the adverse reactions themselves and the various qualifications of the criteria. This paper reports the results of meetings attended by hematologists, members of the French national network of Pharmacovigilance and representatives of Roussel Uclaf Drug Monitoring Department for drug-induced granulocyte and platelet cytopenias. Participants studied (a) the limits of the time interval between the appearance of the adverse reaction and the beginning or the end of the treatment with the suspected drug; (b) interpretation of a possible rechallenge; and (c) diagnostic value of in vitro tests proposed to confirm the responsibility of a specific drug in a granulocytic or platelet cytopenia.

Twenty patients with advanced seminoma were treated with chemotherapy. Fourteen patients were previously untreated (group 1) and received vinblastine, bleomycin, and cisplatin (VPB) at presentation. Six patients had received prior radiation therapy (group 2), and at relapse received either VPB or VP-16-213 (etoposide)-cisplatin. Within group 1, five patients received no further therapy after VPB (group 1A), six patients received radiation to residual radiographic abnormalities (group 1B), and three patients underwent surgery to remove residual radiographic areas following VPB (group 1C). The complete response rate in group 1 was 14/14 (100%). At present within group 1A, 5/5 patients (100%) are alive and disease-free (NED) for a median follow-up of 32 + months. In group 1B, 6/6 patients (100%) are alive and NED for a median follow-up of 17+ months. In group 1C, 3/3 patients (100%) had residual fibrosis at the time of surgical resection. Two of these patients died of postoperative complications with no evidence of disease and the third is alive and NED at 19+ months. In group 2, 4/6 patients (67%) achieved a complete remission, including two patients who are NED at 22+ and 85+ months, respectively. Two have died and two are alive with progressive disease. Doses of chemotherapy to group 2 patients were substantially lower than the doses given to group 1 patients. We conclude that chemotherapy is acceptable initial therapy for advanced seminoma, and prior extensive radiation therapy may impair the ability to give adequate doses of chemotherapy in patients who relapse. Residual masses after chemotherapy are often fibrotic and the role of postchemotherapy radiation therapy in these patients is uncertain.

International reporting of adverse drug reactions to pharmaceutical companies or drug regulatory authorities requires internationally accepted standard definitions of reactions and criteria for assessment of causality. Under CIOMS (Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences) auspices, the Roussel Uclaf pharmaceutical company organized an international meeting concerning drug-induced blood cytopenias. The meeting resulted in proposed standard designations of blood cytopenias and criteria for causality assessment of neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and aplastic anemia.