Idelalisib: Practical Tools for Identifying and Managing Adverse Events in Clinical Practice.

Idelalisib is a first-in-class oral selective inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase delta, which is selectively expressed in hematopoietic cells, where it is critical to B-cell receptor signaling and B-cell development and function. Idelalisib is approved in the United States for the treatment of relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL; in combination with rituximab), relapsed follicular lymphoma (FL), and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) and in the European Union for the treatment of CLL (in combination with rituximab). Approval was based on clinical activity in a phase II trial in indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma and a phase III trial in CLL.

Alemtuzumab maintenance may safely prolong chemotherapy-free intervals in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

This prospective, single-arm study utilized alemtuzumab as a single agent in a novel maintenance schedule in previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients with the goal of delaying progression of disease and requirement for chemotherapy. In previously treated CLL patients who had achieved stable disease or better, the following schedule of subcutaneous alemtuzumab was administered: a dose escalation in the first week (3, 10 and 30 mg), followed by 7 weeks of 30 mg alemtuzumab once weekly, 16 weeks of 30 mg once every 2 weeks, followed by once every 3 weeks for 24 weeks. Thus, the entire duration of the planned treatment was 48 weeks.

A combination of rituximab, cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone effectively treats immune cytopenias of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Auto-immune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) are known complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Rituximab, cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone (RCD) effectively target lymphocytes and inhibit autoimmune processes. We reviewed 21 patients with CLL treated for AIHA alone (n = 18), ITP alone (n = 1) or both (n = 2) with the following RCD regimen: rituximab 375 mg/m(2) i.

Clinical staging and prognostic markers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

In this article we provide a brief review of the two staging systems in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and we discuss the more recently identified, new prognostic markers that are of interest to clinicians and researchers in this field.

Blood pressure and renal function after kidney donation from hypertensive living donors.

Background: Rising numbers of patients reaching end-stage kidney disease intensify the demand for expansion of the living-kidney-donor pool. On the basis of low risk in white donors with essential hypertension, our transplant center undertook a structured program of accepting hypertensive donors if kidney function and urine protein were normal. This study reports outcomes of hypertensive donors 1 year after kidney donation.