Are Healthcare Professionals Adequately Trained for Safe Blood Transfusions? Targeted Training to Bridge Knowledge Gaps.

Introduction: Ensuring optimal blood transfusion practices relies on a robust expertise base that is indispensable across various professional fields. Recognizing this imperative, the current study aims to assess the knowledge levels of healthcare personnel and enhance transfusion quality through targeted continuing training initiatives.

Methods: The preliminary survey was based on an anonymous questionnaire and we used correct response rate (CRR) as the main parameter evaluating the baseline level of knowledge.

Very late relapse of Burkitt's lymphoma in an EBV-negative patient after 20 years of complete remission.

Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive B-cell lymphoma that occurs in children and adults. It is a chemosensitive lymphoma with very exceptional cases of late relapse. We report the case of a 32-year-old male, originally from a nonendemic area for BL, who was successfully treated for abdominal BL 20 years ago.

Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the orbit complicating the evolution of multiple myeloma in complete remission.

Orbital plasmacytoma is rare and has only been reported in the context of the initial diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Moreover, isolated orbital plasmacytoma without any signs of multiple myeloma is extremely rare. We report the case of a 59-year-old female patient diagnosed with IgA Kappa multiple myeloma.

Chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia: Incidence of BCR/ABL transcript and its correlation with presenting features, response to treatment, and survival.

Introduction: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by Philadelphia chromosome resulting in the fusion between the BCR gene, located on chromosome 22, and the ABL gene on chromosome 9. The prognostic significance of BCR-ABL transcript variants in CML is controversial. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the clinico-hematological presentation and evolution of the disease, response to treatment and survival according to transcript type in chronic phase CML patients.

Evaluation of glycopeptide prescription in high-risk febrile neutropenia: A monocentric study of North Africa.

Introduction: High-risk febrile neutropenia (FN) is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in onco-hematology. The initiation of empirical antibiotic therapy is an emergency that can change the prognosis of some patients. Given the emergence of increasingly resistant Gram-positive bacteremia, glycopeptides, as an empirical treatment, have an important place in the management of high-risk FN.

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia complicating a chronic neutrophilic leukemia: A case report of a rare association.

Key Clinical Message: Chronic neutrophilic leukemia is a rare disease with a poor prognosis. Its diagnosis is challenging in the lack of genetic tools. It can infrequently be associated with autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

High-dose methotrexate-related pneumonitis in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Introduction: Methotrexate is administered through different routes to treat childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Toxicities of low, intermediate, or high doses of methotrexate have been described in the literature. Methotrexate-induced or related pneumonitis is a rare complication that leads, in most cases, to discontinuing this drug.

The diagnostic dilemma of idiopathic intracranial hypertension in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: COVID-19 or cytosine arabinoside?

Background: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension is a rare neurological condition among children. Its manifestations vary from mild headaches to loss of vision. Although rare, COVID-19 infection and high dose cytosine arabinoside have been reported as risk factors for this neurological disorder.

Photodistributed pustular acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis revealing an acute myeloid leukemia.

Sweet syndrome is a rare inflammatory dermatosis that can be associated with various diseases, including leukemias. Physicians should be aware that a photodistributed clinical presentation of a pustular SS may reveal underlying malignancies, particularly hemopathies. If the hemopathy is known, recurrence lesions should be suspected of a relapse.

Systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome and Hashimoto thyroiditis occurring in a patient with Niemann-Pick disease: a second case.

Lysosomial diseases and autoimmune diseases are systemic disorders. Their clinical manifestations can overlap with the broad spectrum of one another. Their association has been rarely reported.

[Tunisian National Protocol for Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma Treatment: Results of a therapeutic regimen adapted to the 2-cycle CT response, about 444 patients].

Objective: In Tunisia, the management of Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL) has been standardized since 1999. We propose in this study to report the therapeutic results of the national protocol of adult HL treatment (MDH2008).

Patients And Methods: Our study is prospective multicenter interesting 444 patients followed for HL between July 2008 and June 2013 and treated according to the MDH2008 protocol.

Chronic myeloid leukemia patients in Tunisia: epidemiology and outcome in the imatinib era (a multicentric experience).

Data are limited in developing countries regarding the clinicopathologic features and response to therapy of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the era of imatinib (IM). The objective of this study is to report on the clinicoepidemiologic features of CML in Tunisia, to evaluate the long-term outcome of patients in chronic (CP) or accelerated phase (AP) treated with IM 400 mg daily as frontline therapy, and to determine imatinib's efficacy and safety. From October 2002 to December 2014, 410 CML patients were treated with IM in six Tunisian departments of hematology.

Mutational analysis of TP53 gene in Tunisian familial hematological malignancies and sporadic acute leukemia cases.

Mutations are responsible for familial cancer syndromes which account for approximately 5-10 % of all types of cancers. Familial cancers are often caused by genetic alterations occurring either in tumor suppressor or genomic stability genes such as TP53. In this study, we have analyzed the TP53 gene by direct sequencing approach, in a panel of 18 Tunisian familial hematological malignancies cases including several forms of leukemia, lymphoma and myeloid syndrome and 22 cases of sporadic acute leukemia.

Mutational analysis of JAK2, CBL, RUNX1, and NPM1 genes in familial aggregation of hematological malignancies.

Familial aggregation of hematological malignancies has been reported highlighting inherited genetic predisposition. In this study, we targeted four candidate genes: JAK2 and RUNX1 genes assuring a prominent function in hematological process and CBL and NPM1 as proto-oncogenes. Their disruption was described in several sporadic hematological malignancies.

Molecular study of the perforin gene in familial hematological malignancies.

Perforin gene (PRF1) mutations have been identified in some patients diagnosed with the familial form of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and in patients with lymphoma. The aim of the present study was to determine whether patients with a familial aggregation of hematological malignancies harbor germline perforin gene mutations. For this purpose, 81 unrelated families from Tunisia and France with aggregated hematological malignancies were investigated.

Molecular cytogenetic study of derivative chromosome 9 deletion in chronic myeloid leukemia patients.

The aims of this study are to investigate the frequency of derivative chromosome 9 (der (9)) deletion in Tunisian patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and to assess the correlation between this deletion and the cytogenetic response for patients treated with hydroxyurea (HU) or imatinib (IM). Karyotype analysis of 336 patients with CML was performed with R-banding technique. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was carried using home-brew probes 17L7 and 248J22 for detecting, respectively, adjacent 5'ABL and 3'BCR deletions on der(9).

[Acute renal failure caused by renal lymphoma. A case report].

Acute renal failure, as the initial manifestation of lymphoma, has been reported only in a few cases. In this work, we report the case of a 28-year-old women admitted for acute renal failure. Her physical examination detected bilateral kidney enlargement.

Molecular cytogenetic characterization of variant Philadelphia translocations in chronic myeloid leukemia: genesis and deletion of derivative chromosome 9.

The mechanisms for the formation of variant Philadelphia (Ph) translocations that occur in 5-10% of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) are not fully characterized. Studies on the prognosis of these variant translocations have yielded conflicting results, especially regarding imatinib outcome and the status of deletions on the derivative chromosome 9. To shed light on these controversial subjects, we sought to analyze all variant translocation cases presented at diagnosis and identified in our institution between the years 2001 and 2008.

[Adult primary myelodysplastic syndromes. Report of 36 cases].

Between 1989 and 1999, 36 cases with primary myelodysplastic syndromes were diagnosed. They were 15 male and 21 females, the median age was 62 years (range: 22 to 90 years). Eighty one per cent of patients were presented symptoms of anemia.

[Neoplastic manifestations of HIV infection].

The incidence of malignancies has increased in conjunction with epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease and they are currently considered acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining conditions. Approximately 40% of all patients with AIDS have developed cancer during the course of HIV infections. Further, as survival has improved in HIV disease, the incidence of these malignancies has increased.

[Epidemiologic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of chronic lymphoid leukemia: apropos of 120 cases].

We retrospectively studied 120 cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia diagnosed between January 1988 and December 1998. The median age of our patients was of 66 years, 75% among them were male. The discovery of the illness was fortuitous in 20% of the cases, the peripheral adenopathy and the splenomegaly were noted respectively in 72 and 48% of the cases.