Non-Hodgkin lymphomas: impact of rituximab on overall survival of patients with diffuse large B-cell and follicular lymphoma.

Background And Aims: Information comparing treatment outcome for diffuse large B cell (DLBCL) and follicular (FL) non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients treated with schemes with and without rituximab from low- and middle-income countries is scarce. Clinical characteristics, response to therapy and long-term outcome of DLBCL and FL patients were studied.

Methods: Patients with DLBCL and FL diagnosed over 8 years at a reference center in northeast Mexico were included.

Current approaches for the treatment of autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is an infrequent group of diseases defined by autoantibody mediated red blood cell destruction. Correct diagnosis and classification of this condition are essential to provide appropriate treatment. AIHA is divided into warm and cold types according to the characteristics of the autoantibody involved and by the presence of an underlying or associated disorder into primary and secondary AIHA.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia of childhood presenting as aplastic anemia: report of two cases.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common malignancy in pediatric patients; its diagnosis is usually easy to establish as malignant lymphoblasts invade the bone marrow and peripheral blood. Some acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients may initially present with pancytopenia and a hypoplastic bone marrow leading to the initial diagnosis of aplastic anemia. In most of these patients clinical improvement occurs, with normalization of the complete blood count within six months, although recovery can also develop a few weeks after initiating steroid therapy.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with hematological diseases experience at a university hospital in northeast Mexico.

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine includes a diverse group of medical and healthcare systems, practices and products not considered part of conventional medicine. Although there is information on unconventional practices in oncological diseases, specific data regarding the use of complementary and alternative medicine by hematology patients is scarce.

Objective: The aim of this study is to document the prevalence of this modality of unconventional therapy in patients with malignant and benign hematological diseases, particularly children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.