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Subject Index: Volume 23 (2009)Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
(Source: Blood Reviews)
Source: Blood Reviews - October 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Source Type: journals

Volume Contents and Author IndexEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
(Source: Blood Reviews)
Source: Blood Reviews - October 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Source Type: journals

Prophylactic therapy in haemophiliaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Clinical experience since decades and numerous retro- and, recently, also prospective studies clearly demonstrate that prophylactic treatment, albeit much more expensive, is superior to on-demand treatment regardless if outcome focus on number of joint- or life-threatening bleeds or arthropathy, evaluated by X-ray or MRI, or quality of life measured by general or hemophilia specific instruments. Optimal prophylactic treatment should be started early (primary prophylaxis) but various opinions exist on the dose and dose interval, depending on the objective of treatment in the individual patient which in turn is usua...
Source: Blood Reviews - October 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Rolf Ljung Source Type: journals

Editorial BoardEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
(Source: Blood Reviews)
Source: Blood Reviews - October 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Source Type: journals

Atrial fibrillation and coagulation: Who and when?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Atrial fibrillation is an independent risk factor for stroke and is also associated with increased mortality above the age of 65 in both males and females. Various factors increase the stroke risk, with the most widely used risk assessment tool being the CHADS2 score which incorporates, heart failure, hypertension, age, diabetes and hitroys of previous stroke or transient ischaemic attack. Despite good evidence for the effectiveness of warfarin in preventing stroke and reducing mortality in atrial fibrillation, there remain a large proportion of patients who do not receive appropriate treatment. All patients with ...
Source: Blood Reviews - August 25, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: David Fitzmaurice Source Type: journals

The incidental monoclonal protein: Current approach to management of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS)Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: ‘Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance’ (MGUS) is a pre-malignant disorder characterized by limited clonal proliferation of the bone marrow plasma cells without any evidence of end-organ damage. A better understanding of the prevalence rates, natural history, and the risk factors for progression of MGUS, provides further insight into the clinical approach to management of this condition. The clinical implications of MGUS such as the risk of fracture, miscellaneous conditions associated with a monoclonal M-protein, and a practical approach to the management of MGUS patients based on a risk-stratifi...
Source: Blood Reviews - August 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Sumit Madan, Philip R. Greipp Source Type: journals

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI): Current concepts and misconceptionsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is the most common cause of serious morbidity and mortality due to hemotherapy. Although the pathogenesis has been related to the infusion of donor antibodies into the recipient, antibody negative TRALI has been reported. Changes in transfusion practices, especially the use of male-only plasma, have decreased the number of antibody-mediated cases and deaths; however, TRALI still occurs. The neutrophil appears to be the effector cell in TRALI and the pathophysiology is centered on neutrophil-mediated endothelial cell cytotoxicity resulting in capillary leak and ALI. Thi...
Source: Blood Reviews - August 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Christopher C. Silliman, Yoke Lin Fung, J. Bradley Ball, Samina Y. Khan Source Type: journals

Resuscitation and transfusion principles for traumatic hemorrhagic shockEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: The transfusion approach to massive hemorrhage has continually evolved since it began in the early 1900s. It started with fresh whole blood and currently consists of virtually exclusive use of component and crystalloid therapy. Recent US military experience has reinvigorated the debate on what the most optimal transfusion strategy is for patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock. In this review we discuss recently described mechanisms that contribute to traumatic coagulopathy, which include increased anti-coagulation factors and hyperfibrinolysis. We also describe the concept of damage control resuscitation (DCR),...
Source: Blood Reviews - August 19, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Philip C. Spinella, John B. Holcomb Source Type: journals

Basic mechanisms and pathogenesis of venous thrombosisEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: In 1856 Virchow proposed a triad of causes for venous thrombosis, postulating that stasis, changes in the vessel wall or changes in the blood could lead to thrombosis. We now know that abnormally high levels of some coagulation factors and defects in the natural anticoagulants contribute to thrombotic risk. Among these, factor V Leiden, which renders factor Va resistant to activated protein C, is the most prevalent with approximately 5% of the Caucasian population having this genetic alteration. These genetically controlled variants in coagulation factors work in concert with other risk factors, such as oral contr...
Source: Blood Reviews - August 18, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Charles T. Esmon Source Type: journals

Editorial BoardEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
(Source: Blood Reviews)
Source: Blood Reviews - August 18, 2009 Category: Hematology Source Type: journals

Emerging therapies for patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukaemiaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is a common lymphoid malignancy with a variable clinical course. While some patients never require treatment or can be managed effectively with palliative chemotherapy, others experience early disease progression and death. The development of new prognostic markers has helped in the identification of patients with high risk disease, even among those diagnosed at early stage. Recent prospective trials have established chemo-immunotherapy combinations as the new standard of care for CLL patients requiring therapy. Unfortunately, patients whose tumour cells have certain genomic aberratio...
Source: Blood Reviews - July 29, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Julio Delgado, Javier Briones, Jorge Sierra Source Type: journals

Bleeding in the heritable connective tissue disorders: Mechanisms, diagnosis and treatmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Easy bruising and bleeding are prominent features of some heritable disorders of connective tissue (HDCT), resulting from fragility of capillaries and the perivascular connective tissue rather than clotting or platelet dysfunction. The bleeding tendency is most prominent in the Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS), a heterogeneous group of HDCT sharing clinical manifestations of fragility in skin, ligaments, blood vessels and internal organs. Most EDS-subtypes are caused by mutations in genes encoding fibrillar collagens type I, III or V, or genes encoding enzymes involved in the posttranslational modification of collag...
Source: Blood Reviews - July 9, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Fransiska Malfait, Anne De Paepe Source Type: journals

Platelet α-granules: Basic biology and clinical correlatesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: α-Granules are essential to normal platelet activity. These unusual secretory granules derive their cargo from both regulated secretory and endocytotic pathways in megakaryocytes. Rare, inheritable defects of α-granule formation in mice and man have enabled identification of proteins that mediate cargo trafficking and α-granule formation. In platelets, α-granules fuse with the plasma membrane upon activation, releasing their cargo and increasing platelet surface area. The mechanisms that control α-granule membrane fusion have begun to be elucidated at the molecular level. SNAREs and SNARE accessory proteins t...
Source: Blood Reviews - May 18, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Price Blair, Robert Flaumenhaft Source Type: journals

Disseminated intravascular coagulation in obstetric disorders and its acute haematological managementEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article will describe how pregnancy-associated DIC can be diagnosed promptly and how treatment should be managed strategically. It also discusses the latest developments in our understanding of haemostatic mechanisms within the placenta and how these may have relevance to new diagnostic approaches as well as novel therapeutic modalities. (Source: Blood Reviews)
Source: Blood Reviews - May 13, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Jecko Thachil, Cheng-Hock Toh Source Type: journals

Vaccines for lymphomas: Idiotype vaccines and beyondEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Therapeutic vaccines for lymphomas have been developed to induce active and long-lasting immune responses against lymphoma capable of eradicating the tumor. Most of these vaccines use the tumor B cell idiotype (the unique variable region of the surface immunoglobulin) as a tumor-specific antigen. The first human clinical trial for lymphoma vaccine was initiated 20 years ago. Along with several other phase I/II trials, it showed encouraging results which supported the initiation of three phase III trials. The results of these trials have recently been released (although not published yet) which failed to demonstrat...
Source: Blood Reviews - April 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Roch Houot, Ronald Levy Source Type: journals

Does antithrombotic therapy improve survival in cancer patients?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication of malignancy, and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Anticoagulant therapy, in the form of heparin and warfarin, plays an important role in the prevention of recurrent VTE. Recent studies have demonstrated that long-term therapy with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is more effective than warfarin in patients with cancer. In addition, accumulating clinical evidence suggests that LMWH significantly improves overall survival in cancer patients without VTE. Intriguingly, however, this improved survival cannot simply be explained by a reduc...
Source: Blood Reviews - April 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Moya S. Cunningham, Roger J.S. Preston, James S. O’Donnell Source Type: journals

Globalisation and blood safetyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Globalisation may be viewed as the growing interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services, and also through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology. Globalisation is not just an economic phenomenon, although it is frequently described as such, but includes commerce, disease and travel, and immigration, and as such it affects blood safety and supply in various ways. The relatively short travel times offered by modern aviation can result in the rapid spread of blood-borne pathogens before measures to counteract transmi...
Source: Blood Reviews - April 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Albert Farrugia Source Type: journals

Bloodstream infections in haematology: Risks and new challenges for preventionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Bloodstream infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the haematology population, and may contribute to delayed administration of chemotherapy, increased length of hospitalisation, and increased healthcare expenditure. For gram-positive, gram-negative, anaerobic and fungal infections, specific risk factors are recognised. Unique host and environmental factors contributing to pathogenesis are acknowledged in this population. Trends in spectrum and antimicrobial susceptibility of pathogens are examined, and potential contributing factors are discussed. These include the widespread use of empiri...
Source: Blood Reviews - April 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Leon J. Worth, Monica A. Slavin Source Type: journals

Splenomegaly: Investigation, diagnosis and managementEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Splenomegaly is a feature of a broad range of diseases, and presents to clinicians in many fields. This review examines the aetiology of splenomegaly in the developed world, and describes a logical approach to the patient with splenomegaly. In some patients, extensive radiological and laboratory investigations will fail to yield a diagnosis: these cases of “isolated” splenomegaly are not uncommon and can be particularly challenging to manage. The risks of serious underlying disease must be balanced against the risks of invasive investigations such as splenic biopsy and diagnostic splenectomy. We discuss the op...
Source: Blood Reviews - April 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Anna L. Pozo, Edmund M. Godfrey, Kristian M. Bowles Source Type: journals

Ferritin for the clinicianEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Ferritin, a major iron storage protein, is essential to iron homeostasis and is involved in a wide range of physiologic and pathologic processes. In clinical medicine, ferritin is predominantly utilized as a serum marker of total body iron stores. In cases of iron deficiency and overload, serum ferritin serves a critical role in both diagnosis and management. Elevated serum and tissue ferritin are linked to coronary artery disease, malignancy, and poor outcomes following stem cell transplantation. Ferritin is directly implicated in less common but potentially devastating human diseases including sideroblastic anem...
Source: Blood Reviews - April 20, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Mary Ann Knovich, Jonathan A. Storey, Lan G. Coffman, Suzy V. Torti, Frank M. Torti Source Type: journals

Molecular biology of mantle cell lymphoma: From profiling studies to new therapeutic strategiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a well-defined lymphoid malignancy characterized by a rapid clinical evolution and poor response to current therapeutic protocols. The hallmark genetic alteration of MCL is the t(11;14)(q13;32) chromosomal translocation that leads to the overexpression of cyclin D1. Recently, new molecular alterations of major importance in the pathogenic mechanisms of this disease have been discovered, and have revealed the biological heterogeneity of MCL. The first section of our review discusses our current understanding of the molecular biology of this entity according to recent information from c...
Source: Blood Reviews - April 12, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Antònia Obrador-Hevia, Silvia Fernández de Mattos, Priam Villalonga, José Rodríguez Source Type: journals

Umbilical cord blood transplantation: Pros, cons and beyondEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Large body of clinical and scientific data has been generated since the first cord blood transplantation (CBT) was performed in 1989. Superior immune plasticity of CB grafts, that allows for less stringent HLA matching, is especially valuable in the face of a persistently growing need for unrelated donor (UD) transplants. Limited cell dose remains the main setback of CBT, particularly in adult population. New strategies, such as transplantation with two cord blood units or using non-myeloablative conditioning, have remarkably expanded the availability of CB transplants in adults with hematological malignancies. Cl...
Source: Blood Reviews - March 12, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Anfisa Stanevsky, Gal Goldstein, Arnon Nagler Source Type: journals

Umbilical cord blood transplantation: Pros, cons and beyond.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Large body of clinical and scientific data has been generated since the first cord blood transplantation (CBT) was performed in 1989. Superior immune plasticity of CB grafts, that allows for less stringent HLA matching, is especially valuable in the face of a persistently growing need for unrelated donor (UD) transplants. Limited cell dose remains the main setback of CBT, particularly in adult population. New strategies, such as transplantation with two cord blood units or using non-myeloablative conditioning, have remarkably expanded the availability of CB transplants in adults with hematological malignancies. Clinica...
Source: Blood Reviews - March 10, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Stanevsky A, Goldstein G, Nagler A Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Pathogenesis, classification, and therapy of eosinophilia and eosinophil disordersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract: Eosinophilia is a recurrent feature and diagnostic clue in several hematologic malignancies. In stem cell- and myelopoietic neoplasms, eosinophils are derived from the malignant clone, whereas in lymphoid neoplasms and reactive states, eosinophilia is usually triggered by eosinopoietic cytokines. Myeloid neoplasms typically presenting with eosinophilia include chronic myeloid leukemia, chronic eosinophilic leukemia (CEL), other myeloproliferative neoplasms, some acute leukemias, advanced mast cell disorders, and rare forms of myelodysplastic syndromes. Diagnostic evaluations in unexplained eosinophilia have to ta...
Source: Blood Reviews - February 26, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Peter Valent Source Type: journals

Pathogenesis, classification, and therapy of eosinophilia and eosinophil disorders.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Eosinophilia is a recurrent feature and diagnostic clue in several hematologic malignancies. In stem cell- and myelopoietic neoplasms, eosinophils are derived from the malignant clone, whereas in lymphoid neoplasms and reactive states, eosinophilia is usually triggered by eosinopoietic cytokines. Myeloid neoplasms typically presenting with eosinophilia include chronic myeloid leukemia, chronic eosinophilic leukemia (CEL), other myeloproliferative neoplasms, some acute leukemias, advanced mast cell disorders, and rare forms of myelodysplastic syndromes. Diagnostic evaluations in unexplained eosinophilia have to take the...
Source: Blood Reviews - February 24, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Valent P Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Blood and coagulation support in traumaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract: Injury is the leading cause of death in young people and a major cause of loss of years of productive life world wide. Acute surgical care can prevent injury from turning into disability or death but requires prompt access to safe blood products to support resuscitation and restorative surgical procedures. Speed in delivering blood products is critical in resuscitation. Achieving prompt blood product support requires advanced planning and an informed balancing of risks to insure the availability of red cells and coagulation products at the time and place where they are needed. Safety and diagnostic support are cr...
Source: Blood Reviews - January 12, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Sarah B. Murthi, Lynn G. Stansbury, John R. Hess Source Type: journals

Blood and coagulation support in trauma.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Injury is the leading cause of death in young people and a major cause of loss of years of productive life world wide. Acute surgical care can prevent injury from turning into disability or death but requires prompt access to safe blood products to support resuscitation and restorative surgical procedures. Speed in delivering blood products is critical in resuscitation. Achieving prompt blood product support requires advanced planning and an informed balancing of risks to insure the availability of red cells and coagulation products at the time and place where they are needed. Safety and diagnostic support are critical...
Source: Blood Reviews - January 10, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Murthi SB, Stansbury LG, Hess JR Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Assessment and management of high-risk pregnancies in women with thrombophiliaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Summary: Pregnancy is an acquired hypercoagulable state which can lead to gestational vascular complications especially in the presence of other prothrombotic risk factors. The use of anticoagulation for prevention of pregnancy complications in women with thrombophilia is becoming more frequent. Efficacy and safety issues of therapeutic and prophylactic regimens use and monitoring of LMWH therapy in pregnancy are discussed in this review. In addition, a scoring system for women with thrombophilia is proposed which includes severity of pregnancy outcomes, thrombotic history and type of thrombophilia.Validation of this scori...
Source: Blood Reviews - January 9, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Galit Sarig, Guy Vidergor, Benjamin Brenner Source Type: journals

Assessment and management of high-risk pregnancies in women with thrombophilia.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Pregnancy is an acquired hypercoagulable state which can lead to gestational vascular complications especially in the presence of other prothrombotic risk factors. The use of anticoagulation for prevention of pregnancy complications in women with thrombophilia is becoming more frequent. Efficacy and safety issues of therapeutic and prophylactic regimens use and monitoring of LMWH therapy in pregnancy are discussed in this review. In addition, a scoring system for women with thrombophilia is proposed which includes severity of pregnancy outcomes, thrombotic history and type of thrombophilia. Validation of this scoring s...
Source: Blood Reviews - January 7, 2009 Category: Hematology Authors: Sarig G, Vidergor G, Brenner B Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Globalisation and blood safety.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Globalisation may be viewed as the growing interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services, and also through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology. Globalisation is not just an economic phenomenon, although it is frequently described as such, but includes commerce, disease and travel, and immigration, and as such it affects blood safety and supply in various ways. The relatively short travel times offered by modern aviation can result in the rapid spread of blood-borne pathogens before measures to counteract transmission...
Source: Blood Reviews - December 8, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Farrugia A Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Splenomegaly: Investigation, diagnosis and management.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Splenomegaly is a feature of a broad range of diseases, and presents to clinicians in many fields. This review examines the aetiology of splenomegaly in the developed world, and describes a logical approach to the patient with splenomegaly. In some patients, extensive radiological and laboratory investigations will fail to yield a diagnosis: these cases of "isolated" splenomegaly are not uncommon and can be particularly challenging to manage. The risks of serious underlying disease must be balanced against the risks of invasive investigations such as splenic biopsy and diagnostic splenectomy. We discuss the options in ...
Source: Blood Reviews - December 3, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Pozo AL, Godfrey EM, Bowles KM Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Bloodstream infections in haematology: Risks and new challenges for prevention.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Bloodstream infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the haematology population, and may contribute to delayed administration of chemotherapy, increased length of hospitalisation, and increased healthcare expenditure. For gram-positive, gram-negative, anaerobic and fungal infections, specific risk factors are recognised. Unique host and environmental factors contributing to pathogenesis are acknowledged in this population. Trends in spectrum and antimicrobial susceptibility of pathogens are examined, and potential contributing factors are discussed. These include the widespread use of empiric ant...
Source: Blood Reviews - November 27, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Worth LJ, Slavin MA Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Does antithrombotic therapy improve survival in cancer patients?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication of malignancy, and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Anticoagulant therapy, in the form of heparin and warfarin, plays an important role in the prevention of recurrent VTE. Recent studies have demonstrated that long-term therapy with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is more effective than warfarin in patients with cancer. In addition, accumulating clinical evidence suggests that LMWH significantly improves overall survival in cancer patients without VTE. Intriguingly, however, this improved survival cannot simply be explained by a reduction ...
Source: Blood Reviews - November 27, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Cunningham MS, Preston RJ, O'Donnell JS Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Vaccines for lymphomas: Idiotype vaccines and beyond.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Therapeutic vaccines for lymphomas have been developed to induce active and long-lasting immune responses against lymphoma capable of eradicating the tumor. Most of these vaccines use the tumor B cell idiotype (the unique variable region of the surface immunoglobulin) as a tumor-specific antigen. The first human clinical trial for lymphoma vaccine was initiated 20 years ago. Along with several other phase I/II trials, it showed encouraging results which supported the initiation of three phase III trials. The results of these trials have recently been released (although not published yet) which failed to demonstrate a p...
Source: Blood Reviews - October 23, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Houot R, Levy R Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Ferritin for the clinician.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Ferritin, a major iron storage protein, is essential to iron homeostasis and is involved in a wide range of physiologic and pathologic processes. In clinical medicine, ferritin is predominantly utilized as a serum marker of total body iron stores. In cases of iron deficiency and overload, serum ferritin serves a critical role in both diagnosis and management. Elevated serum and tissue ferritin are linked to coronary artery disease, malignancy, and poor outcomes following stem cell transplantation. Ferritin is directly implicated in less common but potentially devastating human diseases including sideroblastic anemias, ...
Source: Blood Reviews - October 1, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Knovich MA, Storey JA, Coffman LG, Torti SV, Torti FM Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) in early infancy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) is a rare and potentially life-threatening bleeding disorder of early infancy. Vitamin K stores are low at birth; thereafter breast-fed infants are at risk because of low concentrations in human milk. Classical VKDB occurs in the first week of life, is related to delayed or inadequate feeding and is readily prevented by small doses of vitamin K at birth. Late VKDB peaks at 3-8weeks, typically presents with intracranial haemorrhage often due to undiagnosed cholestasis with resultant malabsorption of vitamin K. Diagnosis can be difficult but PIVKA-II measurements can provide confirmat...
Source: Blood Reviews - September 18, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Shearer MJ Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Recent studies have shown a clinical benefit of lenalidomide, an oral immunomodulatory drug, plus dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events were cytopenias, fatigue, muscle cramps, rash, infection, insomnia, and venous thromboembolism. Lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of patients with MM who have received at least one prior therapy. An expert panel reviewed the efficacy and toxicity of lenalidomide plus dexamethason...
Source: Blood Reviews - September 5, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Palumbo A, Dimopoulos M, Miguel JS, Harousseau JL, Attal M, Hussein M, Knop S, Ludwig H, von Lilienfeld-Toal M, Sonneveld P Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

CCN3 - A key regulator of the hematopoietic compartment.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CCN3, a founding member of the CCN family of growth regulators, was linked with hematology in 2003(1) when it was detected in human serum. CCN3 is expressed and secreted by hematopoietic progenitor cells in normal bone marrow. CCN3 acts through the core stem cell signalling pathways including Notch and Bone Morphogenic Protein, connecting CCN3 with the modulation of self-renewal and maturation of a number of cell lineages including hematopoietic, osteogenic and chondrogenic. CCN3 expression is disrupted in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia as a consequence of the BCR-ABL oncogene and allows the leukemic clone to evade growth re...
Source: Blood Reviews - August 25, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: McCallum L, Irvine AE Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Cardiovascular disease and heritability of the prothrombotic state.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Atherothrombotic disease remains a major cause of mortality worldwide, and family clustering suggests an important contribution of genetic factors to disease pathogenesis. Thrombus formation represents the final step in atherothrombosis, a process influenced by genetic and environmental factors. A major difficulty of investigating the genetic regulation of thrombotic conditions is the complexity of the phenotype and the relatively modest effects of individual genetic variations. We address in this review genetic aspects involved in regulating thrombosis potential and their impact on the development of atherothrombotic ...
Source: Blood Reviews - August 21, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Ajjan RA, Ariëns RA Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Protease-activated receptors as targets for antiplatelet therapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Arterial thrombosis, manifesting as acute myocardial infarction or ischaemic stroke, is the single most common cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialised societies. Platelets are a pre-requisite for the formation of arterial thrombi and, as a consequence, novel antiplatelet agents are sought to meet the significant clinical need for a potent, safe, and orally available therapy for the management of cardiovascular disease. Platelet thrombin receptors, termed protease-activated receptors (PARs), represent one promising candidate for the development of such therapy. This review outlines the role of platelet PARs i...
Source: Blood Reviews - July 19, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Hamilton JR Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Recent developments in the treatment of aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Options for treating aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) have expanded in recent years. In phase 3 clinical trials, giving rituximab with cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and prednisone (CHOP) every 3 weeks (R-CHOP-21) has been associated with improved survival, without increased toxicity, in all patient groups studied. Giving dose-dense CHOP - CHOP every 2 weeks (CHOP-14) - has also proved appropriate for all patients 18-75 years old. Studies combining these approaches - dose-dense CHOP with rituximab (R-CHOP-14) - have shown improved survival over CHOP-14 in patients 60-81 years old. These results also i...
Source: Blood Reviews - July 10, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Michallet AS, Coiffier B Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Management of Philadelphia negative chronic myeloproliferative disorders in pregnancy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The management of pregnancy in Philadelphia negative chronic myeloproliferative disorders (CMPDs) is an increasingly frequent problem. In the literature, most pregnancies are reported for women with essential thrombocythemia (ET) with about 400 pregnancies in about 200 women. In ET, first trimester abortion is the most frequent complication occurring in about one third of pregnancies. Interestingly, the incidence of maternal complications is relatively low with 3% for major thromboembolic and 2% for major bleeding events. The presence of the Jak2 mutation seems to be an independent predictor of pregnancy complications....
Source: Blood Reviews - July 8, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Griesshammer M, Struve S, Barbui T Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Prognostic markers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: A comprehensive review.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The clinical course of individual CLL patients is highly variable, with life expectancies ranging from months to decades. Importantly, a significant subset of patients presents with low grade CLL, but will nevertheless develop a more aggressive and life-threatening disease. As these patients may potentially benefit from early treatment, it is crucial to assess patients' prognosis at diagnosis, allowing individual risk-adapted therapy. Reliable predictions of prognosis in an early stage of the disease have long been lacking in the clinical workup of CLL patients. During the last decades many efforts have been made to id...
Source: Blood Reviews - July 1, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Van Bockstaele F, Verhasselt B, Philippé J Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Warfarin and intracranial haemorrhage.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage is one of the most feared complications of long-term anticoagulation. Warfarin therapy not only increases the likelihood of suffering an intracranial haemorrhage, but also increases the mortality associated with it. This review aims to examine the incidence, pathogenesis, and outcome following a warfarin associated intracranial haemorrhage. It also evaluates the available evidence regarding optimal management of these patients, including timing and strategies for reversal of the coagulopathy, the role of neurocritical care and surgery, and indications for re-anticoagulation once th...
Source: Blood Reviews - June 24, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Appelboam R, Thomas EO Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Frontline treatment of multiple myeloma in elderly patients.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Until 2007, frontline chemotherapy with melphalan and prednisone (MP) was considered as the standard of care in the treatment of elderly patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Recently, several prospective randomized studies comparing MP with the same combination plus new agents such as thalidomide (MPT) or bortezomib (MPV) clearly showed that MPT and MPV were superior to MP in terms of progression-free and overall survival. Melphalan-prednisone-lenalidomide (MPR) is currently compared to MP in one prospective trial and will also probably be superior to MP. Lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone is a promising combinat...
Source: Blood Reviews - June 10, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Moreau P, Hulin C, Facon T Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Induction therapy for elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a disease of older adults. Efforts to intensify therapy along traditional avenues have failed to yield improved results. There remains significant clinical equipoise as to how to "induce" patients and whether or not 7+3-style regimens improve outcomes over low-dose cytarabine. What is certain is that even in those not receiving active therapy, AML is an exceptionally morbid disease. Diverse interventions are being explored in the management of older patients with AML and the currently available data will be reviewed. PMID: 18539373 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Blood Reviews)
Source: Blood Reviews - June 6, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Martin MG, Abboud CN Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Genetic causes of erythrocytosis and the oxygen-sensing pathway.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Idiopathic erythrocytosis is an uncommon disease, and is defined by an increase in red blood cell mass. The differential diagnosis of erythrocytosis is extensive, and can be divided into primary and secondary forms. Primary erythrocytoses are due to intrinsic defects in erythroid precursor cells and are characterized by low erythropoietin levels. Secondary erythrocytoses are extrinsic to erythroid progenitors and are characterized by either high or inappropriately normal erythropoietin levels. A distinct subset of secondary erythrocytoses are due to genetic mutations in key proteins of the oxygen-sensing pathway. These...
Source: Blood Reviews - June 4, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Lee FS Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Thalassemia and hypercoagulability.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Thalassemia is a congenital hemolytic disease caused by defective globin synthesis resulting in decreased quantity of globin chains. Although the life expectancy of beta-thalassemia patients has markedly improved over the last few years, patients still suffer from many complications of this congenital disease. The presence of a high incidence of thromboembolic events, mainly in beta-thalassemia intermedia, has led to the identification of a hypercoagulable state in these patients. In this paper, we review the molecular and cellular mechanisms leading to hypercoagulability in beta-thalassemia, with a special focus on th...
Source: Blood Reviews - May 27, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Taher AT, Otrock ZK, Uthman I, Cappellini MD Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

How I treat acute and chronic leukemia in pregnancy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The prevalence of pregnancy associated leukemia is approximately 10,000 pregnancies. This rare occurrence precludes the conducting of large, prospective studies to examine diagnostic, management and outcome issues. The treatment of a pregnant woman with leukemia may be associated with severe adverse fetal outcome including death and malformations, and therefore poses a difficult challenge for both the patient and the attending physician. Chemotherapy during the 1st trimester is associated with an increased risk for congenital malformations. However, this risk diminishes as pregnancy advances. When acute leukemia is dia...
Source: Blood Reviews - May 8, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Shapira T, Pereg D, Lishner M Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals

Immunodeficiency-associated lymphomas.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article covers lymphoproliferative disorders in patients with primary or acquired immunodeficiencies. Primary immunodeficiences include Ataxia Telangiectasia and X-linked disorders such as Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. Acquired immunodeficiencies predominantly occur in the setting of infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or arise following immunosuppressive therapy administered after organ transplantation. The rising incidence of HIV throughout the world and the dramatic increase in transplant surgery since the 1990's suggest that these lymphomas will remain an important health problem. Evidence for lymphoma dev...
Source: Blood Reviews - May 2, 2008 Category: Hematology Authors: Tran H, Nourse J, Hall S, Green M, Griffiths L, Gandhi MK Tags: Blood Rev Source Type: journals