Impact of the affordability of novel agents in patients with multiple myeloma: Real-world data of current clinical practice in Mexico.

Background: The treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) has become costly and difficult to access for patients living in low-income to middle-income countries.

Methods: The current retrospective study included 148 patients in Mexico with newly diagnosed MM, and was performed to compare the outcomes of patients with and without access to novel agents. The records of 77 patients admitted to a public hospital (PubC) and 71 patients cared for within private health systems (PrivC) from November 2007 to July 2016 were reviewed.

Effective collection of peripheral blood stem cells in children weighing 20 kilogram or less in a single large-volume apheresis procedure.

Introduction: Peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation has become a routine procedure in pediatric oncology. A special group of PBSC donors are children weighing 20 kg or less. Limited vascular access and low blood volume puts them at a higher risk.

Lower than expected cytogenetic and molecular response to imatinib in Mexican patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Imatinib has been considered as the gold standard for drug therapy of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) because it offers higher cytogenetic response and better quality of life than traditional drugs. In this study we applied the standard 400 mg dose of imatinib in 37 CML Ph (+) Mexican patients, monitoring their cytogenetic response using fluorescent in situ hybridization and carrying out molecular analyses using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The study included 19 male and 18 female patients with a median age of 41 years.