Pulmonary Involvement of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Mimicking Transfusion-related Acute Lung Injury.

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is defined as a new episode of acute lung injury (ALI) occurring during transfusion or within 6 hours of transfusion completion. A 66-year-old man suffering from acute myeloid leukemia developed acute respiratory distress syndrome after platelet transfusion. TRALI was diagnosed clinically, but an autopsy showed leukemic cells in diffuse pulmonary edema.

The impact of anti-HLA antibodies on unrelated cord blood transplantations.

The majority of cord blood transplantations (CBTs) have human leukocyte antigen (HLA) disparities. We investigated the impact that patients' pretransplantation anti-HLA antibodies have on the outcome of CBTs. Testing for anti-HLA antibody and its specificity was performed retrospectively at the Japanese Red Cross Tokyo Blood Center with sensitive solid-phase antibody detection assays.

Human babesiosis in Japan: isolation of Babesia microti-like parasites from an asymptomatic transfusion donor and from a rodent from an area where babesiosis is endemic.

To determine the source of infection for the Japanese index case of human babesiosis, we analyzed blood samples from an asymptomatic individual whose blood had been transfused into the patient. In addition, we surveyed rodents collected from near the donor's residence. Examination by microscopy and PCR failed to detect the parasite in the donor's blood obtained 8 months after the donation of the blood that was transfused.

Transfusion-acquired, autochthonous human babesiosis in Japan: isolation of Babesia microti-like parasites with hu-RBC-SCID mice.

We have isolated piroplasms from a patient who developed the first case of human babesiosis in Japan by using NOD/shi-scid mice whose circulating erythrocytes (RBCs) had been replaced with human RBCs (hu-RBC-SCID mice). Following inoculation of the patient's blood specimen into hu-RBC-SCID mice, parasites proliferated within the human RBCs in the mice, resulting in a high level of parasitemia. Parasite DNA was prepared from blood samples of the patient and the mice, and the nuclear small-subunit rRNA gene (rDNA) was amplified and sequenced.