Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in males, and the second leading cause of death in females worldwide (1). Non-small cell lung cancer (NscLc) accounts for 85% to 90% of all lung cancer. There are different subtypes of NscLc that are grouped together because, until recently, the approach to treatment as well as prognosis was often similar. These subtypes are squamous cell carcinoma (sqNscLc), adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma and more poorly differentiated variants (2). squamous cell carcinoma constitutes about 25-30% of all lung cancer. it originates from the bronchial lining, and is often linked to a history of smoking. Adenocarcinoma represents around 40% of lung cancer. it emerges from mucus-secreting cells. While this type of cancer occurs mainly in current and former smokers, it is the most common type of lung cancer occurring in non-smokers. Large-cell carcinoma accounts for about 10% to 15% of lung cancer and tends to grow and spread quickly (1).Treatment options for NscLc have evolved tremendously over the past 15 years, especially with the advent of genetic and molecular techniques to characterize the driver mutations at the cellular level. overall survival (os) rates from lung cancer have been increasing slowly over the past decade for both men and women. This is mainly due to reduction in smoking over the past 50 years, although the decline in the rates of lung cancer in men started significantly before that in women (3). several treatment modalities are being used including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, laser therapy, photodynamic therapy, radiofrequency ablation, cryosurgery, electrocautery, and watchful waiting. New modalities are being tested in clinical trials and they include immunotherapy, combination therapies and chemoprevention (4). To date, there are no studies that evaluate the best sequence of available therapies, and as such, the choice of therapy is highly personalized and likely depends on the setting in which available drugs were investigated, stage of disease, cytogenetic or molecular profile, performance status, toxicities, and medical comorbidities.For a long time, lung cancer has been considered to be non-immunogenic. However, after the success of immunotherapies in melanoma (5), there has been great interest and investigation in the immune checkpoint inhibitors in NscLc. These immune inhibitors have shown promising results in front-line therapy and after failure of multiple lines, as well as in monotherapy and combination 377Τhis article is freely accessible online.Correspondence to: imad Tabbara, MD,

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COVID-19 pandemic has imposed worldwide challenge and has significantly affected transfusion medicine. Shortage in blood products along with concerns regarding the safety of blood products have emerged. Measures to overcome these challenges have been implemented in order to decrease the demand on blood products and to encourage blood donations while taking full precautions to minimize risk of COVID-19 transmission mainly at blood banks and medical centers. Several countries have been successful in facing these new challenges. In addition, the role of plasma therapy in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, especially in severe cases, has been proposed and current studies are being conducted to determine its efficacy. Other therapeutic options are currently being explored. So far, the use of convalescent plasma is considered a promising rescue treatment to be looked at.

With the continuing progress in managing patients with thalassemia, especially in the setting of iron overload and iron chelation, the life span of these patients is increasing, while concomitantly increasing incidences of many diseases that were less likely to show when survival was rather limited. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major life-threatening cancer that is becoming more frequently identified in this population of patients. The two established risk factors for the development of HCC in thalassemia include iron overload and viral hepatitis with or without cirrhosis. Increased iron burden is becoming a major HCC risk factor in this patient population, especially in those in the older age group. As such, screening thalassemia patients using liver iron concentration (LIC) measurement by means of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and liver ultrasound is strongly recommended for the early detection of iron overload and for implementation of early iron chelation in an attempt to prevent organ-damaging iron overload and possibly HCC. There remain lacking data on HCC treatment outcomes in patients who have thalassemia. However, a personalized approach tailored to each patient’s comorbidities is essential to treatment success. Multicenter studies investigating the long-term outcomes of currently available therapeutic options in the thalassemia realm, in addition to novel HCC therapeutic targets, are needed to further improve the prognosis of these patients.

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