Background: Therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are currently initially efficient, but even if a high percentage of patients have an initial complete remission (CR), most of them relapse. Recent data shows that immunotherapy with either bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells can eliminate residual chemotherapy-resistant B-ALL cells.Objective: The objective of the manuscript is to present improvements in the clinical outcome for chemotherapy-resistant ALL in the real-life setting, by describing Romania's experience with bispecific antibodies for B-cell ALL.
Methods:We present the role of novel therapies for relapsed B-cell ALL, including the drugs under investigation in phase I-III clinical trials, as a potential bridge to transplant. Blinatumomab is presented in a critical review, presenting both the advantages of this drug, as well as its limitations.Results: Bispecific antibodies are discussed, describing the clinical trials that resulted in its approval by the FDA and EMA. The real-life setting for relapsed B-cell ALL is described and we present the patients treated with blinatumomab in Romania.
Background
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia-induced pulmonary haemorrhage is considered a fatal infection among haematological patients. The outcome can be explained by the patients’ immunity status and late diagnosis and treatment.
Case presentation
We present the rare case of successful outcome in a 61-year-old female who developed alveolar haemorrhage and acute respiratory distress syndrome 8 days after a chemotherapy session for her acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, in the context of secondary bone marrow aplasia. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia was isolated in sputum culture. The patient benefitted from early empirical treatment with colistin followed by trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, according to the antibiogram. Despite a severe initial clinical presentation in need of mechanical ventilation, neuromuscular blocking agents infusion, and ventilation in prone position, the patient had a favourable outcome and was discharged from intensive care after 26 days.
Conclusions
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia severe pneumonia complicated with pulmonary haemorrhage is not always fatal in haematological patients. Empirical treatment of multidrug-resistant Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in an immunocompromised haematological patient presenting with hemoptysis should be taken into consideration.
In the 2016 revision of the World Health Organization classification the term therapy-related myeloid neoplasia (t-MN) defines a subgroup of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) comprising patients who develop myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS-t) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML-t) after
Invasive filamentous fungal infections have increased dramatically, primarily in neutropenic patients, with Fusarium being one of the most common filamentous fungi. Fusarium can be found in soil, air, water and plants. 1 Hospital-acquired infections have been linked to contaminated air or aerosols from contaminated water systems, where Fusarium can form biofilms. [2][3][4][5][6][7] While more than 300 species have been identified, about 70 Fusarium species have been shown to cause infections in humans, 1 with the F. solani species complex being
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