Improvement in the outcomes of mantle cell lymphoma in the last decade: a real-life non interventional study of the Croatian Cooperative Group for Hematologic Diseases.

Aim: To compare the outcomes of Croatian patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who started treatment in 2007 and 2008 (historical cohort) and of those who started treatment between 2015 and 2017 (recent cohort).

Methods: The historical cohort consisted of 40 patients who started treatment with rituximab in 2007 and 2008. Data on the recent cohort, consisting of 89 patients, were collected retrospectively from the electronic databases of Croatian hospitals with hematology units.

Immunoexpression of 5-methylcytosine (5mc) in Bone Marrow Haematopoietic Cells in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are biologically and clinically heterogenous groups of clonal haematopoietic stem cell diseases characterized by ineffective haematopoiesis and peripheral blood cytopenia, with a variable tendency to transform within acute leukaemia (AL). DNA hypermethylation and hypo-methylation are associated with cancer. Thus, the hypermethylation of DNA is essential for the molecular pathophysiology of MDS by inactivating genes involved in cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis.

[Calcified deep vein thrombosis in a patient with recurrent deep vein thrombosis and sarcoidosis].

In this article, we present a rare case of calcified deep vein thrombosis in a 42-year-old female patient with frequent relapses of pulmonary sarcoidosis since 1995, for which she was on maintenance therapy with corticosteroids and with consequential secondary diabetes. Recent femoral vein thrombosis was diagnosed with color Doppler in 2012. At the same time, calcified occlusive thrombus in vena cava inferior from the level of renal vein to the confluence of hepatic veins was diagnosed on abdominal multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT).

[Isolated central nervous system relapse of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the era of immunochemotherapy].

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common histologic subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Standard chemotherapy is CHOP regimen (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone). Addition of rituximab to standard chemotherapy regimen significantly increased the success of treatment and overall survival in DLBCL patients.

Analysis of the influence of various factors on anemia in patients with lymphoid malignancies.

Anemia is a frequent complication of lymphoid neoplasms as a result of the disease and myelotoxic chemotherapy, and has a significant impact on treatment outcome, survival and quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical characteristics of anemia in lymphoid malignancies and to assess the need of anemia treatment in the context of modern therapeutic possibilities. Fifty-five patients (32 female and 23 male) with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL, n = 30), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL, n = 8) and multiple myeloma (MM, n = 17) were included in the study.

[Risk factors for invasive fungal infections during intensive chemotherapy of acute leukemia--retrospective study].

Aim: The incidence, outcome and risk factors for developing invasive fungal infection were retrospectively analyzed in 150 patients with acute leukemia during intensive cytostatic therapy.

Patients And Methods: Patients with and without the diagnosis of fungal infection were compared according to age, sex, diagnosis, stage of disease, type of therapy, antimicrobial prophylaxis, duration of febrile episodes, duration of antimicrobial therapy, duration of antifungal therapy, chest x-ray findings, results of surveillance cultures for fungal species isolation, clinical diagnosis at discharge from hospital, and autopsy findings. Clinical findings in patients with confirmed fungal infection on autopsy were analyzed separately.

[Systemic fungal infections in immunocompromised patients].

Opportunistic fungal infections are becoming more frequent complications during cancer therapy, after organ transplantation and in AIDS infections, especially after better control of bacterial infections in immunocompromised patients. Periods of prolonged neutropenia with neutrophil count less than 0.5 x 10(9)/L longer than 7 days, are the most important risk factors for the development of systemic fungal infections.

A model of oncologic care in general medicine.

The problems related to cancer and its control initially manifest in local community, and general practitioners are those who most commonly have to face them there. The aim of the study was to develop a program of comprehensive oncologic care for primary care physicians, which would be highly professional, efficient, economically justified and feasible, with the ultimate goal of upgrading the target population health and quality of life. Opinions on the priorities and intensity of work in particular activities of general practitioners in the field of oncologic care were obtained from 54 Croatian experts in oncologic care.