Convalescent or standard plasma versus standard of care in the treatment of COVID-19 patients with respiratory impairment: short and long-term effects. A three-arm randomized controlled clinical trial.

Background: The efficacy of early treatment with convalescent plasma in patients with COVID-19 is debated. Nothing is known about the potential effect of other plasma components other than anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Methods: To determine whether convalescent or standard plasma would improve outcomes for adults in early phase of Covid19 respiratory impairment we designed this randomized, three-arms, clinical trial (PLACO COVID) blinded on interventional arms that was conducted from June 2020 to August 2021.

Yttrium-90 ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin) followed by BEAM (Z-BEAM) conditioning regimen and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in relapsed or refractory high-risk B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL): a single institution Italian experience.

Chemo-refractory NHL has a very poor outcome; the addiction of RIT to salvage regiment pre ASCT had recently demonstrated promising results.We performed a retrospective sequential study to determine the feasibility of standard Zevalin with BEAM in high-risk relapse/refractory NHL. A matched cohort analysis with a group treated with standard BEAM without Zevalin was performed as secondary endpoint.

Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants and antiphospholipid syndrome.

The current treatment of thrombotic APS patients includes long-term anticoagulation with oral vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), with warfarin being the one most commonly used. However, the use of VKAs can be challenging, especially in patients with APS. VKAs monitoring in patients with aPL is complicated by the heterogeneous responsiveness to LAs of reagents used in the International Normalized Ratio test, potentially resulting in instability of anticoagulation.

Efficacy of plasmapheresis for the treatment of pure red blood cell aplasia after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Background: Pure red blood cell aplasia (PRCA) is a complication of ABO major-incompatible stem cell transplantation, likely due to the persistence of memory B lymphocytes of recipient origin, which produce hemagglutinins against ABO antigens on donor RBCs. At present no standard of care is established for this complication.

Case Report: We report a case of PRCA after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, successfully treated with plasma exchange (PEX) after failing erythropoietin administration.

Incidence and outcome of invasive fungal diseases after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: a prospective study of the Gruppo Italiano Trapianto Midollo Osseo (GITMO).

Epidemiologic investigation of invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) may be useful to identify subpopulations who might benefit from targeted treatment strategies. The Gruppo Italiano Trapianto Midollo Osseo (GITMO) prospectively registered data on 1858 consecutive patients undergoing allo-HSCT between 2008 and 2010. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for proven/probable IFD (PP-IFD) during the early (days 0 to 40), late (days 41 to 100), and very late (days 101 to 365) phases after allo-HSCT and to evaluate the impact of PP-IFDs on 1-year overall survival.

Allogeneic stem cell transplant for adults with myelodysplastic syndromes: relevance of pre-transplant disease status.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the outcome of 94 adult patients with myelodysplasia (MDS) who received an allogeneic stem cell transplant between January 1995 and September 2010 in two Italian hematology centers. At the time of transplant, 53 patients (56%) had relapsed/refractory disease. The cumulative incidence of grades II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and chronic GVHD was 33% (95% confidence interval [CI] 21-45%) and 78% (95% CI 66-90%), respectively.