Publications by authors named "Ashanka Beligaswatte"
Article Synopsis
- There is a growing interest in using historical patient data as synthetic controls for evaluating new drugs, but real-world outcomes often don't match those from clinical trials due to a lack of detailed cancer treatment data.
- The Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group's National Blood Cancer Registry (ALLG NBCR) provides comprehensive information on various factors influencing treatment outcomes, allowing for a comparison of 942 AML patients to clinical trial data for five specific drugs.
- The analysis reveals significant differences in treatment approaches and outcomes between real-world patients and clinical trial participants, indicating that while some results may align, discrepancies must be considered for accurately assessing the effectiveness of new therapies across different populations.
Article Synopsis
- A phase II study investigated the combined treatment of venetoclax and low-dose cytarabine (LDAC) for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) experiencing first measurable residual disease (MRD) or oligoblastic relapse.
- The study enrolled 48 adults, primarily older patients with a history of intensive chemotherapy, and assessed their response to the treatment over several cycles, with notable differences in side effects based on relapse type.
- Results showed that the combination was not only well tolerated but also led to significant remission rates, with many patients achieving either MRD negativity or complete remission, indicating the treatment's potential effectiveness.
Background: Limited consensus exists on the optimal use of antifungal agents to prevent invasive fungal infection in the early post allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (alloHCT) period, particularly when patients cannot tolerate oral medication administration.
Methods: We undertook a retrospective observational cohort study to assess the tolerability, efficacy, and cost of a new antifungal prophylaxis pathway at a major tertiary alloHCT centre. Patients aged ≥16 years who underwent alloHCT between February 2018 and October 2019 (cohort 1) or between April 2020 and November 2021 (cohort 2) were included.
The proportion of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cured is increased by administering high-dose cytarabine (HiDAC). It remains uncertain whether to administer HiDAC as induction or consolidation, and whether ≥1 cycle of HiDAC is required. Our retrospective study of 416 adult AML patients, excluding good risk cytogenetics, compared a single cycle of HiDAC-based therapy followed by 2 cycles of standard-dose cytarabine (SDAC) (HiDAC induction cohort) with SDAC-based chemotherapy followed by 2 cycles of HiDAC-based chemotherapy (HiDAC consolidation cohort).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aims: We sought to determine factors associated with the overall survival from relapse (OSR) of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) after allogeneic haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) and the effect of first salvage therapy and subsequent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) on OSR.
Methods: Data on 386 patients from nine Australian centres with relapsed AML post-alloHSCT were collected retrospectively. OSR was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
There are no accepted methods to predict the development of platelet transfusion refractoriness (PTR) due to human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-alloimmunization. Hence, matched platelets are usually given only to patients demonstrating PTR, necessarily resulting in some ineffective random donor platelets (RDPLT) transfusions. To assess its utility in predicting PTR, we retrospectively tested samples from 387 patients receiving chemotherapy for acute leukaemia or autologous transplantation using a micro-bead flow cytometry assay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis review evaluates the latest information on the mobilisation of haemopoietic stem cells for transplantation, with the focus on what is the current best practice and how new understanding of the bone marrow stem cell niche provides new insights into optimising mobilisation regimens. The review then looks at the mobilisation of mesenchymal stromal cells, immune cells as well as malignant cells and what clinical implications there are.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: We describe a series of unsuspected paraquat poisonings presenting as an outbreak of fatal acute pneumonitis. Exposure to paraquat occurred during the widespread practice of adding substances to alter the taste or potency of illicit alcohol. The diagnosis was suspected only after autopsy findings suggestive of paraquat toxicity were seen in the first fatality.
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