Trends in blood transfusion and causes of blood wastage: a retrospective analysis in a teaching hospital.

Background: Blood is a vital medical resource that is sourced from primarily nonremunerated donations. As Taiwan faces an aging population, increasing medical demands pose new challenges to blood resource management. Trend analysis can improve blood supply chain management and allocate blood resources more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Associated Factors With Acute Transfusion Reaction From Hospital Online Reporting Events: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objectives: In our hospital's hemovigilance system, a Wi-Fi-based vital signs monitor that automatically transmits data to ensure patient safety has been implemented. We derived the potential clinical characteristics for subsequent association of acute transfusion reactions (ATRs) using the hospital information system database.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed multiple factors to identify the possible associations between clinical factors and developing ATRs.

Insidious malignant triton tumor of the chest wall with late flare-up.

Malignant triton tumor is a rare malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with rhabdomyoblastic differentiation. Most of these tumors are located in the head, neck, and extremities, and about half of cases are associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 featuring cafe-au-lait spots or cutaneous neurofibromas. We present a 76-year-old man with an insidious chest wall tumor with late progressive painful enlargement and pleural and pulmonary involvement.

Iron chelation therapy for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome.

Chronic blood transfusions are necessary for patients with hereditary anemia such as thalassemia, and for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who become anemic and transfusion-dependent. A common consequence of chronic transfusion is iron accumulation that can lead to organ damage. While there is general agreement regarding the value of iron chelation therapy to reduce the detrimental effects of iron overload in thalassemia major, the same is not true for MDS.

Correlation between characteristics of unrelated bone marrow donor and cell density of total nucleated cell in bone marrow harvest.

The relationship between the features of bone marrow donor and the quality of marrow harvest has been unclear because most of bone marrow registries have multiple collection centers with somewhat different harvest procedures. We are able to address this issue for Tzu Chi General Hospital is the only collection center affiliated with Tzu Chi Taiwan Bone Marrow Registry. Between November 1997 and March 2002, data of 286 healthy unrelated donors was analyzed to correlate with the cell density of total nucleated cell in bone marrow harvests.

A phase II study of weekly paclitaxel and epirubicin in recurrent or refractory squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Objective: The combination of taxanes and anthracyclines has been proved to be active for treatment of many cancers. We conducted a phase II study to determine the response and toxicity of paclitaxel and epirubicin (TE) in patients with incurable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).

Methods: Patients with metastatic or recurrent SCCHN and adequate hematologic, renal and hepatic function and a Karnofsky performance status >/=60% were enrolled.