Risk of venous thromboembolism after discontinuing prophylactic or therapeutic anticoagulation in patients with haematologic malignancies because of thrombocytopenia.

Although the rates of thrombocytopenia in patients with hematologic malignancies are well known, clinical reports of patients with haematological malignancies presenting with thrombocytopenia who developed venous thromboembolism (VTE) are rare. Defining the risk of VTE in patients with hematologic malignancies in whom anticoagulation is discontinued could help to individualize concepts of anticoagulation. We performed a retrospective analysis of medical records of patients with hematologic malignancies and thrombocytopenia grade 3 (25 × 10/L to < 50 × 10/L) or more severe in 2019-2022 in the Department of Haemato-Oncology at HELIOS Klinikum Krefeld.

Optimization of rituximab for the treatment of DLBCL: increasing the dose for elderly male patients.

Male sex is associated with unfavourable pharmacokinetics and prognosis in elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We investigated higher rituximab doses for elderly male DLBCL patients. Elderly patients (61-80 years) received 6 cycles CHOP-14 (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone at 14-day intervals) and were randomized to 8 cycles rituximab (males 500 mg/m , females 375 mg/m ) every 2 weeks or according to an upfront dose-dense schedule.

Metastatic esophagogastric adenocarcinoma: trends in first-line treatment and predictive factors for the implementation of HER2 testing in clinical practice during the first year after trastuzumab market approval.

Purpose: Little is known about the use of first-line chemotherapy in clinical practice in patients with advanced esophagogastric adenocarcinoma, and no data have been published regarding potential obstacles for the implementation of molecular testing for targeted agents in this patient group. Here, we sought to evaluate factors influencing treatment decisions with special focus on the implementation of HER2 testing during the first year after trastuzumab market approval in Germany.

Methods: A total of 754 patients undergoing treatment decisions for palliative first-line therapy in 2010 were documented using Therapiemonitor(®).

Multiple myeloma-related deregulation of bone marrow-derived CD34(+) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal plasma cell disorder frequently accompanied by hematopoietic impairment. We show that hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), in particular megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors, are diminished in the BM of MM patients. Genomic profiling of HSPC subsets revealed deregulations of signaling cascades, most notably TGFβ signaling, and pathways involved in cytoskeletal organization, migration, adhesion, and cell-cycle regulation in the patients.