Association between chronic lymphocytic leukemia and sarcoidosis: clinical value of bronchoalveolar lavage.

We report a case of sarcoidosis, occurred in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) shortly following the completion of initial chemotherapy, who relapsed shortly after a second course. Since bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) demonstrated a predominance of CD4+ lymphocytes, it largely excluded spread of the malignant disorder to the lung, and strongly suggested that sarcoidosis was the cause of the pulmonary infiltrates. This diagnosis was confirmed by the finding of non-caseating granuloma on transbronchial lung biopsy.

Acute intravascular haemolysis with massive microspherocytosis in a 75-year-old woman.

Acute intravascular haemolysis (AIH) sometimes occurs in patients with sepsis or bacteraemia, mainly due to clostridia or Salmonella sp., and may be a life-threatening condition. We describe a case of AIH in a 75-yr-old woman with chronic cholelithiasis.

Satisfactory recovery and viability of stem cells cryopreserved at high cell concentration.

Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (PBSC) are being extensively used in both oncology-haematology and in solid tumor therapy schedules. The latest generation of cell separators allow the collection of greater numbers of nucleated cells (NC) than is usually obtained in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) settings. Thus, larger volumes of components would be stored if the same NC concentration employed in BMT is to be used.

Cold agglutinin hemolytic anemia in a patient with adult-onset Still's disease.

We report on a patient with adult Still's disease who developed, at the onset of her illness, an autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AHA) due to cold agglutinin (CA). Hemolysis spontaneously subsided and CA disappeared before starting therapy with aspirin and prednisone. The occurrence of AHA in patients affected with collagen diseases is currently explained by a loss of tolerance, leading to the emergence of multiple autoreactive clones.