Fecal microbiota transplantation is an effective treatment in recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Promising results to eradicate multidrug-resistant bacteria have also been reported with this procedure, but there are safety concerns in immunocompromised patients. We report results in ten adult patients colonized with multidrug-resistant bacteria, undergoing fecal microbiota transplantation before (n=4) or after (n=6) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for hematologic malignancies. were obtained from healthy related or unrelated donors. Fecal material was delivered either by enema or via nasogastric tube. Patients were colonized or had infections from either carbapenemase-producing bacteria (n=8) or vancomycin-resistant enterococci (n=2). Median age at fecal microbiota transplantation was 48 (range, 16-64) years. Three patients needed a second transplant from the same donor due to initial failure of the procedure. With a median follow up of 13 (range, 4-40) months, decolonization was achieved in seven of ten patients. In all patients, fecal micro-biota transplantation was safe: one patient presented with constipation during the first five days after FMT and two patients had grade I diarrhea. One case of gut grade III acute graft- versus -host disease occurred after fecal microbiota transplantation. In patients carrying or infected by multidrug-resistant bacteria, fecal microbiota transplantation is an effective and safe decolonization strategy, even in those with hematologic malignancies undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Sorafenib treatment after HSCT appears to be feasible and highly effective with dose individualization according to patient tolerability. Further analysis is needed to evaluate the immunomodulating role of sorafenib after HSCT. The data from the current support prospective controlled trials of sorafenib after HSCT. Cancer 2017;123:2867-74. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

inflammation predict mortality in patients with heart failure. J Thromb Haemost 2006; 4: 1017-22.Summary. Background and aims: Plasma levels of inflammatory markers are increased in chronic heart failure (HF) and are also subclinical indicators of future HF. Inflammation is strictly correlated with clotting activation, but the association between inflammation, hypercoagulability and prognosis in HF has not been previously reported. Methods and results: Markers of inflammation (interleukin-6; IL-6, and C-reactive protein; CRP) and hypercoagulability (D-dimer; DD, and thrombinantithrombin III complex; TAT) were prospectively assessed in 214 subjects with New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II-IV HF. During a median follow-up of 8.5 months, 32 patients had an event: 13 died and 19 were hospitalized because of worsening of HF. IL-6, DD and TAT levels were all significantly associated with increased risk of death after adjustment for other known HF prognostic factors (age, gender, traditional cardiovascular risk factors, NYHA class, systolic left ventricular function, renal failure, hemoglobin, serum sodium) in a Cox multivariate proportional hazard model (P ¼ 0.003, P ¼ 0.01 and P ¼ 0.02, respectively). When these markers were added simultaneously to the known prognostic factors in a new Cox multivariate model, only DD levels were significant predictors of mortality (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval; CI]: 11 [2.7-45.1], P ¼ 0.001). The Kaplan-Meier curve revealed a significantly better outcome in patients with DD below 450 ng mL )1. NT-pro-BNP was the only significant predictor of rehospitalization (HR [95% CI]: 5.3 [2.0-13.8], P < 0.001). Conclusion: Hypercoagulability and inflammation, as assessed by DD, TAT and IL-6 levels, are associated with an increased mortality risk in HF.