No abstract

Greater understanding of PV is serving as a platform for new therapy development and treatment response predictors.

Abstract:Objective: Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) remains a signifi cant cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Methods: In this study, we have retrospectively evaluated the major risk factors for the development of aGvHD in 100 patients who underwent allogeneic transplantation at the University Hospital in Bratislava between January 2007 and December 2011. Results: 29 patients acquired acute GvHD (Grade I -12 patients, G II -5 , G III -3, G IV -9). We proved a higher incidence of developing aGvHD in patients with unrelated donor type, TBI conditioning and cyclosporine (CsA) replacement with mycophenolate mofetil due to CsA nephrotoxicity, while other risk factors such as older patient age, the use of peripheral blood progenitor cells and donor/recipient sex mismatch were without statistical significance. The average time of onset of aGvHD has been 57 days (range 13-260) after HSCT. Corticosteroids were used as standard initial therapy with 52 % complete response (CR) rate, althoug the likelihood of response rapidly decreased with increasing severity of disease (G IV -100 % refracterness). The response to primary therapy also correlated with overall survival. Patients with steroid-refractory aGvHD received a different second-line therapies (antithymocyte globulin, anti-TNFα antibody, anti CD52 antibody) with response rate 45 % (CR -18 %, PR -27 %). Conclusion: Outcome for the patients with steroid-refractory aGvHD was poor, disease very often returned or progressed with one year mortality rate 81 % , that represents an important therapeutic problem (Tab. 2, Ref. 10). Text in PDF www.elis.sk.

The aim of this study was to assess cardiotoxicity and potential adverse effects related to lipid metabolism during treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) imatinib and nilotinib in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-two consecutive patients with CML, who received nilotinib and/or imatinib in a single haemato-oncological Slovak center between years 2002-2018 were evaluated in a retrospective study. The mean age was 55.8 years (range 22-77 years). Median of follow-up was 61.3 months. RESULTS: A signifi cantly higher incidence of dyslipidemia, signifi cantly higher levels of potential risk markers of cardiovascular disease small dense LDL cholesterol (sdLDL-CH) and a signifi cant increase in total cholesterol were found in the patients during treatment with nilotinib in comparison to imatinib. Dyslipidemia led to drug therapy in 22 % of the patients in the nilotinib group. Fourteen percent of the patients in the nilotinib group had one or more cardiovascular events, including peripheral artery disease (10 %), myocardial infarction (4 %) and stroke (4 %). CONCLUSION: A higher risk of cardiovascular events and atherogenic dyslipidemia were associated with nilotinib therapy. Patients treated with TKI, especially nilotinib, require an early modifi cation of cardiovascular risk factors and a careful cardiologic surveillance so that antileukemic therapy with this highly effective agent could continue (Tab. 4, Fig. 3, Ref. 32).