Initial Results of Peripheral-Blood Stem-Cell Mobilization, Collection, Cryopreservation, and Engraftment After Autologous Transplantation Confirm That the Capacity-Building Approach Offers Good Chances of Success in Critical Contexts: A Kurdish-Italian Cooperative Project at the Hiwa Cancer Hospital, Sulaymaniyah.

Introduction: At Hiwa Cancer Hospital (Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan) after the center was started by a cooperative project in June 2016, autologous transplantation was developed.

Patients And Methods: To develop the project, the capacity-building approach was adopted, with on-site training and coaching of personnel, educational meetings, lectures, on-the-job training, and the implementation of quality management planning.

Results: Here, we report initial results of peripheral-blood stem-cell mobilization and collection of the first 27 patients (age 12 to 61 years; 19 males and 8 females; multiple myeloma, n = 10; plasma cell leukemia, n = 1; Hodgkin lymphoma, n = 12; non-Hodgkin lymphoma, n = 3; and acute myeloid leukemia, n = 1).

The Start-Up of the first Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Center in the Iraqi Kurdistan: a Capacity-Building Cooperative Project by the Hiwa Cancer Hospital, Sulaymaniyah, and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation: an Innovative Approach.

We describe the entire process leading to the start-up of a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation center at the Hiwa Cancer Hospital, in the city of Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Iraqi Region. This capacity building project was funded by the Italian Development Cooperation Agency and implemented with the support of the volunteer work of Italian professionals, either physicians, nurses, biologists and technicians. The intervention started in April 2016, was based exclusively on training and coaching on site, that represent a significant innovative approach, and led to a first autologous transplant in June 2016 and to the first allogeneic transplant in October.

Pre-chemotherapy risk factors for invasive fungal diseases: prospective analysis of 1,192 patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (SEIFEM 2010-a multicenter study).

Correct definition of the level of risk of invasive fungal infections is the first step in improving the targeting of preventive strategies. We investigated the potential relationship between pre-hospitalization exposure to sources of fungi and the development of invasive fungal infections in adult patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia after their first course of chemotherapy. From January 2010 to April 2012, all consecutive acute myeloid leukemia patients in 33 Italian centers were prospectively registered.

Results of a multicenter, controlled, randomized clinical trial evaluating the combination of piperacillin/tazobactam and tigecycline in high-risk hematologic patients with cancer with febrile neutropenia.

Purpose: Empiric antibiotic monotherapy is considered the standard of treatment for febrile neutropenic patients with cancer, but this approach may be inadequate because of the increasing prevalence of infections caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria.

Patients And Methods: In this multicenter, open-label, randomized, superiority trial, adult, febrile, high-risk neutropenic patients (FhrNPs) with hematologic malignancies were randomly assigned to receive piperacillin/tazobactam (4.5 g intravenously every 8 hours) with or without tigecycline (50 mg intravenously every 12 hours; loading dose 100 mg).

The addition of radiotherapy to chemotherapy does not improve outcome of early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma patients: a retrospective long-term follow-up analysis of a regional Italian experience.

We retrospectively reviewed 139 stage I-II HL patients who were diagnosed and followed up in an Italian northern region (Liguria) from 1995 to 2007, and who received either chemotherapy (CT) alone (mainly doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine; ABVD) or a combined modality treatment (chemotherapy + radiotherapy, CT + RT). The two therapeutic groups were comparable for clinical and histologic features. Complete remission rate after CT + RT was higher than what was achieved with CT alone (96% vs.

Adding low-dose gemtuzumab ozogamicin to fludarabine, Ara-C and idarubicin (MY-FLAI) may improve disease-free and overall survival in elderly patients with non-M3 acute myeloid leukaemia: results of a prospective, pilot, multi-centre trial and comparison with a historical cohort of patients.

We report the final results of a prospective multi-centre trial testing the combination of chemotherapy (fludarabine, cytosine arabinoside and idarubicin; FLAI) followed by low-dose gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO), for induction treatment of patients with CD33+ acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Forty-six consecutive patients were treated: the median age was 66 (range: 60-80) years; the karyotype was unfavourable in 12 patients (26%), intermediate in 33 (71%) and favourable in one (3%). Eleven major infectious complications were recorded.

Alemtuzumab (Campath-1H) and CHOP chemotherapy as first-line treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma: results of a GITIL (Gruppo Italiano Terapie Innovative nei Linfomi) prospective multicenter trial.

To evaluate in a prospective multicenter trial the feasibility and clinical efficacy of the combination of alemtuzumab (Campath-1H) with the cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone (CHOP) regimen (CHOP-C) as the primary treatment for patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), between January 2003 and December 2005, 24 consecutive patients with PTCL entered the study and received 8 CHOP courses. Alemtuzumab was added at 30 mg subcutaneously at day -1 initially to the first 4 courses (4 patients), and then to all 8 courses (20 patients). Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 17 (71%) patients, 1 had partial remission, and 6 had stable/progressive disease.

CMV infection and pneumonia in hematological malignancies.

While infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the herpes virus family is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients who are immunosuppressed because of previous allogeneic bone marrow transplant, viral infection and subsequent disease are rarely reported in haematological diseases unrelated to this condition. We report here three cases of CMV pneumonia in patients affected by nonHodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and myeloma. The role of T-cell depletion is discussed.