Serum calcium is an independent prognostic factor of overall survival in Mexican patients with multiple myeloma.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of different prognostic factors that has been suggested to be useful in predicting the survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

Materials And Methods: A longitudinal prospective study was conducted on 24 adult Mexican patients diagnosed with primary MM. The levels of expression of CD38, CD138 and cyclin D1 were analyzed in plasma cells (PCs) from patients and mononuclear cells from healthy donors.

Multiple myeloma-associated amyloidosis is an independent high-risk prognostic factor.

Several prognostic factors have been recognized in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Among the most important are: the serum levels of beta2-microglobulin, albumin, and LDH; the labeling index; and an abnormal karyotype. Patients with amyloidosis (AL) have poor prognosis; however, little is known concerning the prognostic significance of AL associated to MM.

Diagnostic yield, therapeutic impact, and complications of double-balloon enteroscopy in patients with small-bowel pathology.

Background And Aims: Until recently the study of small bowel was limited to the radiographic approach. This paper describes experience with the first 86 procedures evaluated and treated with the new technique of double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE).

Patients And Methods: Between August 2005 and September 2006, DBE was conducted in consecutive patients.

Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation using reduced intensity versus myeloablative conditioning regimens for the treatment of leukemia.

Reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) have allowed the application of transplantation to older patients and to patients with underlying medical problems. Between October, 1999, and June, 2003, 61 patients with acute leukemia or chronic myeloid leukemia received allogeneic peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from HLA-identical siblings. Thirty-four were conditioned with myeloablative protocols and twenty-seven with RIC regimens.