Short-term side effects and attitudes towards second donation: A comparison of related and unrelated haematopoietic stem cell donors.

The Nordic Register of Haematopoietic Stem Cell Donors (NRHSD) has registered related and unrelated donors from 10 transplant centres in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark since 1998. We present a prospective, observational study of 1,957 donors, focusing mainly on the differences between related and unrelated donors. Related donors are reported to have more comorbidities, but similar side effects compared with unrelated donors.

Eltrombopag in Good's Syndrome.

Good's syndrome is a rare acquired immunodeficiency associated with thymoma. Eltrombopag is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist and has been shown to be a valuable supplement to the treatment of several types of refractory cytopenias. In this paper, we describe a male patient suffering from Good's syndrome with immune-mediated T-cell driven pancytopenia and absence of megakaryopoiesis.

[Allogeneic stem-cell transplantation in adults 1985-2012: results and development].

Background: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) has been a treatment option for patients with serious diseases of the blood and haematopoietic organs in Norway since 1985. Such treatment is potentially curative for selected patients who have a relatively short predicted survival with other treatment modalities. This article summarises the experience and results from ASCT at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet.

Extracorporeal photopheresis (photochemotherapy) in the treatment of acute and chronic graft versus host disease: immunological mechanisms and the results from clinical studies.

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an immunomodulatory alternative for treatment of graft versus host disease (GVHD). The blood is then separated into its various components through apheresis; buffy coat cells are thereafter treated with 8-methoxypsoralen before exposure to ultraviolet light and finally reinfused into the patient. There is a general agreement that this treatment has an anti-GVHD effect, but the mechanisms of action behind this effect are only partly understood.

Malignant phyllodes tumor and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia sharing a common clonal origin.

There is a well-known association in male patients between mediastinal germ cell tumors (GCT) and hematologic malignancies, with a propensity towards acute megakaryoblastic leukemia. These rare malignancies have been shown to share a common clonal origin, often deduced from the finding of isochromosome 12p, i(12p), in cells from both the solid tumor and the leukemia, and thus are now known to represent different manifestations of the same clonal process. We treated a young female patient with a malignant phyllodes tumor followed by an acute megakaryoblastic leukemia and found several of the same marker chromosomes by karyotype analysis of cells from both the tumor and the leukemia implying a common clonal origin of the two.

[Allogeneic stem cell transplantation in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia].

Background: The success rate for chemotherapy of adults with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in Norway compares favourably with that in international reports, but improvements are still needed. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is an option for patients up to 60 years and may contribute to improving the outcome for these patients.

Material And Methods: Allogen stem cell transplantation was performed in 61 high-risk patients (38 men and 23 women) with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at Rikshospitalet between 1985 and 2005.

Immune reconstitution after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: the impact of stem cell source and graft-versus-host disease.

Background And Objectives: Bone marrow (BM) and blood stem cell (BSC) allografts differ considerably with respect to their content of progenitor cells and progenitor cell subsets as well as mature lymphocytes. The aim of this prospective, randomized study was to determine whether these differences have an impact on early post-transplant immune recovery.

Design And Methods: In a prospective randomised study, we found enhanced immune recovery in recipients of BSC allografts compared to in recipients of BM allografts despite transplantation of a lower number of lymphoid progenitors, particularly B-cell progenitors.

[Hairy cell leukemia treated with cladribine].

Background: Hairy cell leukaemia is a chronic B-cell disorder that follows an indolent course. Cladribine has in the last decade emerged as the drug of choice for treating hairy cell leukaemia.

Material: We report on the long-term follow-up of 26 patients treated from January 1992 to June 1993 with cladribine administered subcutaneously.