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Background: Diagnostic accuracy of galactomannan measurements is highly variable depending on the study population, diagnostic procedures, and treatment procedures. We aimed to evaluate the effect of posaconazole prophylaxis and empiric antifungal treatment upon diagnostic accuracy of GM measurements in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), bronchial lavage (BL), and serum in hematological malignancy population., Methods: Patients hospitalized in a single tertiary care center with hematologic malignancies undergoing fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) with a preliminary diagnosis of IPA were retrospectively included., Results: In all the study population (n = 327), AUC for BAL, BL, and serum GM were as follows: 0.731 [0.666-0.790], 0.869 [0.816-0.912], and 0.610 [0.540-0.676] with BL samples having the best diagnostic value. GM measurements in patients under posaconazole prophylaxis (n = 114) showed similar diagnostic performance. While specificity was similar between patients with and without posaconazole prophylaxis, sensitivity of GM measurements was lower in patients with prophylaxis. Analyses with patient classified according to antifungal treatment at the time of FOB procedure (n = 166) showed a decreased diagnostic accuracy in serum GM and BAL GM measurements related with the duration of treatment. However, BAL, BL, and serum GM measurements presented similar sensitivity and specificity in higher cut-off values in longer durations of antifungal treatment., Conclusion: Our study shows that posaconazole prophylaxis and active short-term (3 days) antifungal treatment do not significantly affect overall diagnostic performance of GM measurements in bronchoalveolar lavage and bronchial lavage samples. However, using different cut-off values for patients receiving active treatment might be suggested to increase sensitivity., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: In recent years, new developments have been incorporated into daily practice in the management of immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP). In particular, clinical scoring systems could help clinicians with clinical decision-making and early recognition. However, older patients frequently present with more organ involvement and in unusual ways. The ways in which age could affect these clinical prediction scoring systems remain unclear. We evaluated the use of PLASMIC and French scores in patients over 60 years of age., Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of patients over 60 years of age with a presumptive diagnosis of iTTP between 2014 and 2022 at 10 centers. We calculated PLASMIC and French scores and compared our data with a single-center analysis of younger patients presenting with thrombotic microangiopathy., Results: Our study included 30 patients over 60 years of age and a control group of 28 patients younger than 60 years. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of a French score of ≥1 were lower in older patients compared to the control group (78.9% vs. 100% and 18.2% vs. 57.1%, respectively). The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of a PLASMIC score of ≥5 were 100% vs. 95% and 27.3% vs. 100% for the study group and control group, respectively. Our study showed a higher mortality rate in older patients compared to the control group (30% vs. 7.1%, p=0.043)., Conclusion: For a limited number of patients (n=6), our results showed that rituximab can reduce mortality. Given that the reliability of clinical prediction scores for iTTP in older patients may be lower, more caution must be undertaken in interpreting their results., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors., (©Copyright 2023 by Turkish Society of Hematology Turkish Journal of Hematology, Published by Galenos Publishing House.)

Introduction: The standard approach for allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) is to administer donor cells on the same day as a fresh product to a patient who has been given a preparative regimen. The difficulty in collecting and transporting donor cells, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has made it essential to collect and cryopreserve the grafts before the recipient begins the transplant preparation regimen. However, the short- and long-term impacts of cryopreservation on transplant outcomes remain controversial., Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 93 patients who underwent allo-SCT between January 2012 and August 2022 at the Stem Cell Transplant Unit of Bursa Uludag University Faculty of Medicine using frozen and fresh products of peripheral blood stem cells from a fully matched sibling donor. The effect of cryopreservation of donor grafts on engraftment kinetics was investigated., Results: Frozen and fresh products were used in 37 and 56 patients, respectively. The majority of patients had acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The median age at transplantation was 41 years. Neutrophil engraftment time was similar between the two groups (median: 14 vs. 16 days, p = 0.393). Platelet engraftment time was longer in the frozen product group (median: 12 vs. 15 days, p < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between freezing time and viability. The acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) rate was 37.8 % in the frozen product group and 28.6 % in the fresh product group (p = 0.349). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of primary and secondary graft failure, chronic GVHD, 30-day chimerism, relapse, overall survival, progression-free survival, and nonrelapse mortality., Conclusion: Having donor cells ready before transplantation significantly prevents donor-induced adverse events and provides confidence and practicality to both the clinician and the recipient. Allo-SCT with frozen products is a successful method that can be safely applied, especially when disruptions in donor-derived cell collection or transportation are foreseen., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical importance and potential mechanisms of controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score as a prognostic tool for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL)., Patients and Methods: Diagnosed with HL, 307 patients were included in the study. Patients' demographic data, stages, B symptoms, extranodal involvement, presence of bulky disease, laboratory findings, treatments, treatment responses, nutritional status, and overall survival (OS) rates were evaluated from the hospital records. The primary endpoint of our study was to evaluate and classify newly diagnosed HL patients under the CONUT score. The secondary endpoint was to indicate any relationship between nutritional status, CONUT score, and other prognostic factors and OS., Results: Of 307 patients (173 males, 134 females), the mean age was 41.58±16.26 (ranging between 18-82 years). The most common type of malignancy was nodular sclerosis (72.53%). To the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the best cut-off point was 2.5 to predict mortality. Eigthy-five (27.7%) and 222 (72.3%) patients had ≥3 and ≤2 CONUT scores, respectively. Twenty-four (10.80%) and 23 (27.10%) cases were also mortal in the patients with ≤2 and ≥3 CONUT scores, respectively (p<0.001). Survival times were significantly lower in those with higher (≥3) CONUT scores (p<0.001) than among the other patients., Conclusions: Evaluation of nutritional status plays an important role in the response and survival of those with hematological malignancies. Malnutrition can reduce patients' tolerance to chemotherapy and increase the risk of secondary infections. In this study, undernutrition evaluated with the CONUT score was demonstrated to be a potential independent prognostic factor for OS in patients with HL.

Introduction: Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a life-threatening occlusive disease of the microcirculation characterized by systemic platelet plugs, organ ischemia, deep thrombocytopenia, and fragmentation of erythrocytes. One of the widely used scoring system to determine the clinical probability of TTP is the PLASMIC scoring system. This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of PLASMIC score modifications to sensitivity and specificity in patients with microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA) undergoing plasma exchange with a prediagnosis of TTP at our center., Materials and Methods: The data of patients who were hospitalized with a previous diagnosis of MAHA and TTP and underwent plasma exchange at Bursa Uludag University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Hematology between January 2000 and January 2022 were retrospectively analyzed., Results: Overall, 33 patients (including 15 and 18 with and without TTP, respectively) were included in this study. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) for the original PLASMIC score was 0.985 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.955-1.000), and AUC for the PLASMIC score without mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was 0.967 (95% CI: 0.910-1.000), which is close to the original AUC. With the removal of MCV from the scoring system, the sensitivity decreased from 100% to 93%, whereas the specificity increased from 33% to 78%., Conclusions: Based on the results of this validation study, removing MCV from the PLASMIC score led to the categorization of eight non-TTP cases in the low-risk category, and this could avoid unnecessary plasma exchange. However, in our study increasing the specificity was at the expense of the sensitivity by missing one patient with this new scoring system without MCV. Further multicenter studies with large sample sizes are required owing to the fact that different parameters may be effective in TTP prediction among different populations., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The impact of inflammatory markers such as systemic immune-inflammation (SII) index and systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) on myelofibrosis (MF) prognosis was evaluated for the first time in this study. Data from 60 patients diagnosed with MF between March 2011 and September 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. In addition to disease-related markers, the impact of SII and SIRI on prognosis was evaluated. In our study, the overall median survival (OS) was 64 months. OS was significantly shorter in patients older than 65 years, with high ferritin and lymphocyte levels, transfusion dependence at diagnosis, platelet count below 100 × 10 9 /L, Hb level below 8 g/dl, and high risk according to the dynamic international prognostic scoring system (DIPSS)-Plus score. When these variables were included in the multivariate Cox regression model, it was found that being older than 65 years, having a high ferritin value, being at high risk according to the DIPSS-plus score and Hb values below 8 increased the risk of death. Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and SII index were lower in patients with a fatal outcome. No statistically significant relationship was found between SIRI and mortality. The findings of this study showed that low PLR and high ferritin were associated with poor prognosis in MF. Elevated SII and SIRI, evaluated for the first time in patients with myelofibrosis, did not predict prognosis. Since non-inflammatory variables play a role in the pathogenesis of MF, bone marrow indicators and systemic inflammation indicators derived from hematologic parameters may not be accurate., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Our study investigated leukapheresis's effect on delayed induction therapy outcomes in patients with acute leukemia presenting with symptomatic hyperleukocytosis., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 30 adult patients diagnosed with acute leukemia who underwent leukapheresis for leukostasis. The patients were divided into the first 24 h and >24 h groups, according to the time from diagnosis to induction therapy (TDT)., Results: There was no significant difference between the TDT groups regarding complete remission (CR), 4-week mortality, and overall survival (OS) at a median follow-up of 409 days. Tumor lysis syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and hemoglobin levels were significant in early mortality. In univariate analysis, age, hemoglobin levels, patients' eligibility for intensive chemotherapy, and achieving CR were critical factors for OS., Conclusion: The study findings suggest that waiting for the clinical and laboratory results may be a safe and reasonable approach before assigning patients the best treatment option with leukapheresis., (© 2023 International Society for Apheresis and Japanese Society for Apheresis.)

Aplastic anemia is potentially fatal, particularly if the disease does not respond to immunotherapy and progresses to severe pancytopenia. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant from an HLA-matched sibling donor, the first-line treatment in patients younger than 40 years, is used as a curative treatment option in severe aplastic anemia. The availability of an identical twin donor is infrequent, and there is limited experience in this context. Additionally, the choices for a conditioning regimen for a syngeneic transplant to prevent engraftment failure and the necessity of graft-vs-host disease prophylaxis are controversial. Although long-term survival gradually increases after an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, hypogonadism and infertility are the main problems that significantly affect patients' quality of life. We present a patient diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia who has had a healthy pregnancy immediately after a syngeneic transplant., Competing Interests: DISCLOSURE The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The first consensus definitions for invasive fungal diseases (IFD) were published in 2002. Advances in diagnostic tests and a clear need for improvement in certain areas led to a revision of these definitions in 2008. However, growing data on Aspergillus galactomannan (GM) thresholds and the introduction of new polymerase chain reaction-based diagnostic tests resulted in a further update by EORTC and Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium (MSGERC) in 2020. Compared to the 2008 version, the 2020 EORTC/MSGERC criteria have stricter definitions, especially regarding GM levels, which should lead to improved specificity. Thus, our study aimed to evaluate diagnostic changes, based on GM levels, resulting from these new definitions and ascertain the impact of the new classification on mortality rates., Method: Patients hospitalized in a single tertiary care center with hematologic malignancies and undergoing bronchoscopy for suspected IPA between April 2004 and December 2019 were included in this retrospective study., Results: The study population consisted of 327 patients with 31 patients (nine patients with proven IPA and 22 patients with no IPA) excluded from the study. 194 patients were classified as probable IPA cases according to 2008 EORTC/MSG criteria. However, 53 (27.3%) of these patients were re-classified as possible IPA according to 2020 EORTC/MSGERC criteria, due to novel galactomannan cut-off levels. Compared to re-classified possible IPA patients, those remaining in the probable IPA category experienced a higher incidence of septic shock (34.0% vs 16.9%, p=0.02), and required more non-invasive (12.0% vs 0.0%, p=0.004) and invasive (44.6 vs 24.5%, p=0.01) mechanical ventilation. There was a higher in-hospital mortality rate in probable IPA patients than in the re-classified possible IPA group (42.5% vs 22.6%, p=0.01). Patients reassigned to possible IPA had similar underlying diseases, radiological features and prognosis to patients already classified as possible IPA. Independent risk factors for mortality were classification as probable IPA according to 2020 EORTC/MSGERC criteria, lack of remission from hematologic malignancy, and number of nodules in Thorax CT., Conclusion: The use of 2020 EORTC/MSGERC criteria resulted in a 27.3% significant reduction in probable IPA diagnoses and created a more homogeneous category of patients with respect to treatment response, prognosis and mortality. Therefore, 2020 EORTC/MSGERC criteria afford more reliable mortality prediction than 2008 EORTC/MSG criteria., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Authors have no conflict of interest to declare regarding this manuscript., (Copyright © 2022 SFMM. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: Turkish Stem Cell Coordination Center (TURKOK) carries out the procurement process of unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells in Turkey. This study aims to compare the efficacy of both once-daily and divided-dose G-CSF administration and the original and biosimilar G-CSF use and the frequency and severity of adverse events in TURKOK donors., Method: The study was conducted retrospectively with 142 healthy TURKOK donors. For PBSC mobilization, two different subcutaneous G-CSF programs were used as 10 μ/kg/day single-dose and 5 μ/kg/12 h. Neupogen (Amgen, Puerto Rico) and Tevagrastim (Teva, Kfar Saba, Israel) were used as G-CSF. All donors started apheresis on the fifth day, and all side effects were recorded during the procedure., Results: Stem cell yield was similar between single-dose and divided-doses based on donor weight, favoring the split-dose based on recipient weight (P = .506 and P = .023, respectively). Both G-CSF posologies were comparable if the target CD34+ cell yield was ≥4 × 10 6 /kg. CD34+ cell yield was equivalent when evaluated against recipient weight, significantly favoring Tevagrastim vs Neupogen by donor weight (P = .740 and P = .021, respectively). Side effects, duration of pain, and need for analgesia favor Tevagratim over Neupogen., Conclusion: Split-dose may be recommended for cases where the need for large numbers of CD34+ cells to be harvested is anticipated due to significant cell yield relative to recipient weight. However, sufficient hematopoietic stem cells can be collected with both posology. Tevagrastim is non-inferiority effective to Neupogen. Side effects during administration are both low-grade and temporary., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background and Objective: Infections are the most common cause of anal and perianal pathologies in patients with hematological malignancies. Perianal infection diagnosis in this group of patients is difficult; thus, a careful anorectal examination is necessary with imaging modalities. In addition, the literature reveals a knowledge gap in the approach to anal pathologies in patients with neutropenia during diagnosis or chemotherapy. This study aimed to examine our institutional data on perianal complications and investigate the relationship between the white blood cell-neutrophil count, perianal lesion, and the type of treatment in patients with hematologic malignancies during the neutropenic period., Methods: Patients with a hematologic malignancy, hospitalized for cytotoxic chemotherapy, complicated by perianal pathology, documented by at least one imaging method, were included in the study., Results: A total of 42 patients were included in the study. Most of them had acute leukemia, 31 were affected by acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and 7 by Acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL). There was no statistically significant relationship between the anal abscess formation, the neutrophil count, and a previous perianal pathology. Anal abscess development was significantly more frequent in acute myeloid leukemia. An inverse relationship was found between the total white blood cell number at onset and having a surgical intervention for anal pathology.In conclusion, this article has shown that white blood cell count at the time of hospitalization can affect the surgical intervention in patients with hematological malignancy (in the majority with acute leukemia) affected by anal pathologies occurring in the neutropenic period., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no conflict of Interest.

Objective: Castleman disease (CD) is a rare disease also known as angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia. The two main histological subtypes are the hyaline vascular and plasma cell variants. It is further classified as unicentric CD (UCD) or multicentric CD (MCD) according to the anatomical distribution of the disease and the number of lymph nodes involved. The aim of this multicenter study was to evaluate all cases of CD identified to date in Turkey to set up a national registry to improve the early recognition, treatment, and follow-up of CD., Materials and Methods: Both adult (n=130) and pediatric (n=10) patients with lymph node or involved field biopsy results reported as CD were included in the study. Patients’ demographic information, clinical and laboratory characteristics, imaging study results, treatment strategies, and clinical outcomes were evaluated retrospectively., Results: A total of 140 patients (69 male and 71 female) with a diagnosis of UCD (n=73) or MCD (n=67) were included. The mean age was 39 years in the UCD group and 47 years in the MCD group. Female patients were more common in the UCD group. The most common histological subtype was hyaline vascular for both UCD and MCD patients. Asymptomatic patients were more common in the UCD group. Anemia, elevations of acute phase reactants, and hypoalbuminemia were more common in the MCD group. The most commonly used treatment strategies for UCD were surgical excision, rituximab, and radiotherapy, respectively. All UCD patients were alive at a median of 19.5 months of follow-up. The most commonly used treatment strategies for MCD were methyl prednisolone, R-CHOP, R-CVP, and rituximab. Thirteen MCD patients had died at a median of 34 months of follow-up., Conclusion: This study is important in presenting the patient characteristics and treatment strategies for CD from Turkey, with the potential of increasing awareness about CD. Treatment data may help in making decisions, particularly in countries that do not have access to siltuximab. However, larger prospective studies are needed to make definitive conclusions.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the appropriate use of empiric glycopeptide therapy in hematologic malignancy patients with febrile neutropenia (FN)., Materials and Methods: Patients with FN who were hospitalized in our clinic and started empiric glycopeptide therapy were retrospectively analyzed. Empiric glycopeptide treatment initial indications were determined according to 7 specific criteria in the IDSA guidelines. In addition, the duration of glycopeptide use according to initial indications, causative pathogens in culture positivity, frequency of VRE infection, and the mortality rate was identified., Results: 87 patients were included. Of these, 102 episodes of FN were analyzed. Appropriate use of glycopeptides was observed in 98% of patients. The most common initial indication for glycopeptide was skin or soft-tissue infection, with 52% (n = 53). The mean duration of glycopeptide use was 11 (2-22) days. The time of glycopeptide use was longer in patients with catheter-related infections than in those with severe mucositis and hemodynamic instability (p = 0,041/p = 0,016). The duration of glycopeptide use was shorter in patients with consolidation therapy than in those without consolidation therapy. The mortality rate in culture-positive patients was significantly higher than in culture-negative patients (p = 0.041). At 72 h, glycopeptide therapy was discontinued in 8 of 79 FN episodes within culture-negative patients., Conclusion: This study showed that the mortality rate was higher in culture-positive patients. Additionally, glycopeptides should be discontinued early with no evidence of gram-positive infection., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objective: Patients with solid malignancies are more vulnerable to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection than the healthy population. The outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection in highly immunosuppressed populations, such as in patients with hematological malignancies, is a point of interest. We aimed to analyze the symptoms, complications, intensive care unit admissions, and mortality rates of patients with hematological malignancies infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Turkey., Materials and Methods: In this multicenter study, we included 340 adult and pediatric patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 from March to November 2020. Diagnosis and status of primary disease, treatment schedules for hematological malignancies, time from last treatment, life expectancy related to the hematological disease, and comorbidities were recorded, together with data regarding symptoms, treatment, and outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection., Results: Forty four patients were asymptomatic at diagnosis of SARS-CoV- 2 infection. Among symptomatic patients, fever, cough, and dyspnea were observed in 62.6%, 48.8%, and 41.8%, respectively. Sixty-nine (20%) patients had mild SARS-CoV-2 disease, whereas moderate, severe, and critical disease was reported in 101 (29%), 71 (20%), and 55 (16%) patients, respectively. Of the entire cohort, 251 (73.8%) patients were hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2. Mortality related to SARS-CoV-2 infection was 26.5% in the entire cohort; this comprised 4.4% of those patients with mild disease, 12.4% of those with moderate disease, and 83% of those with severe or critical disease. Active hematological disease, lower life expectancy related to primary hematological disease, neutropenia at diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, ICU admission, and first-line therapy used for coronavirus disease-2019 treatment were found to be related to higher mortality rates. Treatments with hydroxychloroquine alone or in combination with azithromycin were associated with a higher rate of mortality in comparison to favipiravir use., Conclusion: Patients with hematological malignancy infected with SARS-CoV-2 have an increased risk of severe disease and mortality.

Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is considered a curable disease; however, approximately one-third of responders experience disease relapse following first-line therapy. Several studies have shown the efficacy of brentuximab vedotin (BV) in patients with relapsed/refractory HL. We present a retrospective analysis of 58 patients with relapsed/refractory HL treated with BV in a named patient program from 11 centers. The median follow-up duration was 20 (range, 4-84) months. The best overall response rate was 64% (complete response [CR], 31%; partial response [PR], 33%). The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 12% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.05-0.22) and 26% (95% CI, 0.16-0.38), respectively. Among patients who achieved CR, the estimated 5-year PFS and OS rates were 32% (95% CI, 0.13-0.54) and 60% (95% CI, 0.33-0.78), respectively. A total of 26 patients underwent subsequent stem cell transplantation. The 5-year PFS and OS rates for 10 patients who had consolidative stem cell transplantation were 28% and 30%, respectively. Twenty-seven patients required further therapy following BV. At the time of the analysis, 12 patients (21%) were alive. Five patients (9%) had long-term remission after achieving CR with BV monotherapy, with a median PFS of 76 months. Three of them (5%) did not receive any other treatment following BV and their median PFS was 75 months. Our long-term results showed that a small subset of patients with relapsed/refractory cHL may benefit from and even be cured with BV monotherapy.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of eltrombopag, an oral thrombopoietin receptor agonist, in patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)., Materials and Methods: A total of 285 chronic ITP patients (187 women, 65.6%; 98 men, 34.4%) followed in 55 centers were enrolled in this retrospective cohort. Response to treatment was assessed according to platelet count (/mm 3 ) and defined as complete (platelet count of >100,000/mm 3 ), partial (30,000-100,000/mm 3 or doubling of platelet count after treatment), or unresponsive (<30,000/mm 3 ). Clinical findings, descriptive features, response to treatment, and side effects were recorded. Correlations between descriptive, clinical, and hematological parameters were analyzed., Results: The median age at diagnosis was 43.9±20.6 (range: 3-95) years and the duration of follow-up was 18.0±6.4 (range: 6-28.2) months. Overall response rate was 86.7% (n=247). Complete and partial responses were observed in 182 (63.8%) and 65 (22.8%) patients, respectively. Thirty-eight patients (13.4%) did not respond to eltrombopag treatment. For patients above 60 years old (n=68), overall response rate was 89.7% (n=61), and for those above 80 years old (n=12), overall response rate was 83% (n=10). Considering thrombocyte count before treatment, eltrombopag significantly increased platelet count at the 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th , and 8 th weeks of treatment. As the time required for partial or complete response increased, response to treatment was significantly reduced. The time to reach the maximum platelet levels after treatment was quite variable (1-202 weeks). Notably, the higher the maximum platelet count after eltrombopag treatment, the more likely that side effects would occur. The most common side effects were headache (21.6%), weakness (13.7%), hepatotoxicity (11.8%), and thrombosis (5.9%)., Conclusion: Results of the current study imply that eltrombopag is an effective therapeutic option even in elderly patients with chronic ITP. However, patients must be closely monitored for response and side effects during treatment. Since both response and side effects may be variable throughout the follow-up period, patients should be evaluated dynamically, especially in terms of thrombotic risk factors.

Objective: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among neutropenic patients undergoing chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and stem cell transplantation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the real-life impact of posaconazole prophylaxis., Materials and Methods: Eighty-four adult patients were included with AML under remission induction chemotherapy and posaconazole prophylaxis. The 34 patients in the control group did not receive primary antifungal prophylaxis. The period between June 2006 and January 2009, when antifungal prophylaxis was not administered (control group), was retrospectively compared to the period between December 2010 and May 2012 when primary oral posaconazole prophylaxis was administered in similar conditions (posaconazole group) according to the use of antifungal agents for treatment, breakthrough infections, galactomannan performance, and the necessity for performing bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) procedures., Results: The two groups were compared according to the use of antifungal agents; progression to a different antifungal agent was found in 34/34 patients (100%) in the control group and in 9/84 patients (11%) in the posaconazole group (p<0.001). There were four breakthrough IFIs (4/84, 4.8%) in the posaconazole group and 34 IFIs in the control group (p<0.001). In addition, 15/34 patients (44%) in the control group required BAL compared to 11/84 patients (13%) in the posaconazole group (p<0.001). Posaconazole treatment was discontinued within 7-14 days in 7/84 patients (8.3%) due to poor oral compliance related to mucositis after chemotherapy., Conclusion: Posaconazole appears to be effective and well-tolerated protection against IFIs for AML patients.

Background: Reed-Sternberg cells of classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL) are characterized by genetic alterations at the 9p24.1 locus, leading to over-expression of programmed death-ligand 1 and 2. In a phase 1b study, nivolumab, a PD-1-blocking antibody, produced a high response in patients with relapsed or refractory cHL, with an acceptable safety profile., Patients and Methods: We present a retrospective analysis of 82 patients (median age: 30 years; range: 18-75) with relapsed/refractory HL treated with nivolumab in a named patient program from 24 centers throughout Turkey. The median follow-up was 7 months, and the patients had a median of 5 (2-11) previous lines of therapy. Fifty-seven (70%) and 63 (77%) had been treated by stem-cell transplantation and brentuximab vedotin, respectively., Results: Among 75 patients evaluated after 12 weeks of nivolumab treatment, the objective response rate was 64%, with 16 complete responses (CR; 22%); after 16 weeks, it was 60%, with 16 (26%) patients achieving CR. Twenty patients underwent subsequent transplantation. Among 11 patients receiving allogeneic stem-cell transplantation, 5 had CR at the time of transplantation and are currently alive with ongoing response. At the time of analysis, 41 patients remained on nivolumab treatment. Among the patients who discontinued nivolumab, the main reason was disease progression (n = 19). The safety profile was acceptable, with only four patients requiring cessation of nivolumab due to serious adverse events (autoimmune encephalitis, pulmonary adverse event, and two cases of graft-versus-host disease aggravation). The 6-month overall and progression-free survival rates were 91.2% (95% confidence interval: 0.83-0.96) and 77.3% (0.66-0.85), respectively. Ten patients died during the follow-up; one of these was judged to be treatment-related., Conclusions: Nivolumab represents a novel option for patients with cHL refractory to brentuximab vedotin, and may serve as a bridge to transplantation; however, it may be associated with increased toxicity., (© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aspergillus infections are major causes of morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients. This study was designed to investigate the galactomannan assay optical density (OD) indices relative to the culture results in bronchoscopic samples obtained from neutropenic and non-neutropenic patients. Galactomannan OD indices from 1427 samples from 2005 to 2012, which were sent from 839 patients and were composed of bronchial lavage (BL = 727) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BAL = 700), were retrospectively analysed. The recovery rates of Aspergillus species from these specimens were 9.4% from the combined patient group and 13.3% from the neutropenic group. Aspergillus fumigatus complex was the most frequently isolated species. The mean and median OD indices of the positive and negative culture samples are approximately 5 and 1, respectively, and 91% of all culture-positive samples have ≥1 OD index value. The receiver-operating characteristics curve analysis demonstrated that the feasibility of the Aspergillus galactomannan assay and Aspergillus galactomannan test has superior accuracy in BAL compared to BL fluids, and the test is not affected by the immune status of the patient. We suggest that the Aspergillus galactomannan test, which uses bronchoscopic material, leads to an earlier diagnosis and if the OD index is found ≥1, fungal growth can be expected., (© 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)