Is Bone Marrow Trephine Biopsy Necessary in Multiple Myeloma Patients at Diagnosis?

Multiple myeloma (MM) diagnosis requires ≥10% plasma cell (PC) infiltration in the bone marrow (BM), detected by bone marrow aspiration (BMA) or biopsy (BMB). We evaluated the concordance of these 2 techniques in 189 patients. In 43 cases (23%), the techniques were discordant, 10 due to poor sample quality.

[Approach to dysphagia in advanced dementia].

From the onset, dementia affects the patient's nutritional status, producing anorexia, weight loss, feeding apraxia and dysphagia. Distinct strategies are required in each of the stages of this disease, starting with awareness and knowledge of the problem and its prompt detection. In dementia, dysphagia usually appears in advanced phases, when the patient is often institutionalized.

[Values of GERMCIDE neuropsychological protocol in a sample of normal subjects].

Introduction: The diagnosis of patients with cognitive deterioration or dementia requires a global approach in which the neuropsychological examination is a key piece. As part of the GERMCIDE study (Group for the Study and Multicenter Registry of Incident Cases of Dementia in Spain), a protocol was designed that included an assessment of the different cognitive functions that are most frequently altered in dementias (memory, orientation, speech, praxis, abstraction capacity and executive function).

Methods: In order to obtain data in normal subjects, this neuropsychological protocol was applied to a group of persons over 50 years without cognitive deterioration or dementia.

[Psychocognitive stimulation in dementias].

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that provokes a progressive loss of memory and of other cognitive functions, with additional symptoms in the behavioural and psychological sphere, loss of autonomy and an important overburdening for the family and the social milieu. Dealing with this disorder and other related dementias requires a multidimensional strategy that is able to face the different needs raised by the patient and his family. Given the lack of a curative pharmacological treatment, psychosocial interventions have emerged over the years that are directed at optimising the function of the patient and supporting the family in caring for him, with very different techniques in each of the spheres of intervention (cognitive, behavioural, environmental, family).