Publications by authors named "Paul Knobl"

100 years ago Dr. Eli Moschcowitz described the first case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. For many decades there were no recognized treatment options, and the mortality rate was extremely high.

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  • Acquired hemophilia A primarily affects older individuals, often with additional health issues, but its impact on significant health outcomes is not well understood.
  • The study analyzed data from patients on emicizumab to evaluate the influence of age, physical status, comorbidity, and medication on bleeding risks.
  • Findings show that emicizumab effectively reduced bleeding across different age and health backgrounds, and poor physical performance status correlated with more severe adverse events, but baseline health characteristics didn't predict bleeding risk.
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Background: Recombinant porcine factor VIII (rpFVIII; susoctocog alfa) is indicated for the treatment of bleeding events (BEs) in adults with acquired hemophilia A (AHA).

Objectives: To assess the safety, utilization, and effectiveness of rpFVIII in clinical practice.

Design: EU post-authorization safety study (PASS) (NCT03199794) was a multicenter, noninterventional, post-authorization safety study conducted in adults with AHA.

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  • Immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) can be life-threatening even with standard treatments, so caplacizumab was studied for its effect on preventing complications by inhibiting platelet interaction with von Willebrand factor.
  • The study analyzed data from the phase 3 HERCULES trial, focusing on how caplacizumab performs in different patient subgroups based on their iTTP history, severity at the start of treatment, and initial immunosuppressive drugs.
  • Results showed that caplacizumab led to quicker recovery of platelet counts, reduced complications, and improved outcomes for all patient subgroups, reinforcing its safety and effectiveness when used alongside other treatments.*
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  • Factor VIII inhibitors are traditionally measured using cumbersome Nijmegen or Bethesda assays, which are time-consuming and inconsistent in quality due to manual labor.
  • This study introduces a new fully automated assay for measuring FVIII inhibitors using recombinant FVIII, significantly reducing incubation time and improving efficiency with advanced equipment.
  • The new method demonstrated high sensitivity and consistency, with strong correlation to existing assays, making it a promising alternative for clinical use.
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Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is a rare, life-threatening autoimmune disorder caused by a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13 (ADAMTS13) deficiency. Caplacizumab, an anti-von Willebrand factor nanobody, is approved for iTTP treatment, reducing the need for therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) and improving platelet count recovery and survival. We conducted a retrospective study on 42 acute iTTP cases in Austria and Germany, treated with a modified regimen aimed at avoiding TPE if platelet count increased after the first caplacizumab dose.

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  • Congenital thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is caused by a severe deficiency of the ADAMTS13 enzyme, and the study compared the effectiveness of recombinant ADAMTS13 to standard therapies in preventing TTP events in patients.
  • The phase 3 trial involved patients receiving either recombinant ADAMTS13 or standard therapy in alternating 6-month periods, measuring outcomes like acute TTP events, safety, and pharmacokinetics.
  • Results showed no acute TTP events during recombinant ADAMTS13 prophylaxis, whereas standard therapy had one event; adverse events were lower with recombinant ADAMTS13, and no patients discontinued due to side effects from it, indicating it may be
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  • The article commemorates the 100-year anniversary of Dr. Eli Moschcowitz's first description of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) in 1924.
  • It highlights significant advancements in understanding and treating TTP, including the introduction of plasma therapy and the discovery of the enzyme ADAMTS13.
  • The review discusses the progression of treatments and diagnostic methods, illustrating how TTP has transformed from an incurable disease to a manageable condition.
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Background: Acquired haemophilia A is caused by neutralising autoantibodies against coagulation factor VIII, leading to severe bleeding. Standard treatment involves immunosuppressive therapy, which is associated with adverse events and mortality in the frail population of patients with acquired haemophilia A. This study investigated whether emicizumab, a factor VIIIa mimetic antibody, protects patients with acquired haemophilia A from bleeding and allows deferral of immunosuppression during the first 12 weeks after diagnosis.

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Acquired haemophilia A (AHA) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder caused by autoantibodies blocking coagulation factor VIII (FVIII). Haemostatic management of AHA and concomitant thrombotic risk is difficult. We cover the management of a 75-year-old male with severe Covid-19, a prothrombotic disease, and de novo AHA with severe muscle bleeding, a disease requiring highly thrombogenic haemostatic therapy and immunosuppression-a challenging combination.

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  • Severe COVID-19 can increase von Willebrand factor levels and decrease ADAMTS13 activity, raising the risk of acute thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), especially during inflammation.
  • A survey of 122 patients with hereditary TTP found that 70.5% participated, with most vaccinated; however, some faced health issues like ischemic events and myocarditis following vaccination.
  • The findings suggest that the risk of acute hTTP episodes is higher with COVID-19 infection than with vaccination, indicating that hTTP patients can safely get vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.
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Introduction: Caplacizumab demonstrated efficacy and safety in patients with immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) in the phase 3 HERCULES trial. However, data on long-term outcomes following caplacizumab treatment are limited.

Objectives: The post-HERCULES trial (NCT02878603) evaluated long-term outcomes of patients with iTTP treated with caplacizumab in HERCULES and safety and efficacy of repeated caplacizumab use.

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The root cause of autoantibody formation against factor VIII (FVIII) in acquired hemophilia A (AHA) remains unclear. We aimed to assess whether AHA is exclusively associated with autoantibodies toward FVIII or whether patients also produce increased levels of autoantibodies against other targets. A case-control study was performed enrolling patients with AHA and age-matched controls.

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Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, with an inherent requirement for anticoagulation to avoid circuit thrombosis, is a key element in the treatment of respiratory failure associated with COVID-19. Anticoagulation remains challenging, the standard of care being intravenous continuous administration of unfractionated heparin. Yet regimens vary.

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Background: The anti-von Willebrand factor (VWF) nanobody caplacizumab directly prevents the fatal microthrombi formation in immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP), thereby adding a new therapeutic principle to the treatment of this disorder. However, real-world treatment modalities beyond clinical trials remain heterogeneous.

Methods: Here, we describe the risks and benefits of an alternate-day dosing regimen for caplacizumab by thoroughly analyzing the timing and outcome of this approach in a retrospective cohort of 25 iTTP patients treated with caplacizumab at seven different medical centers in Austria and Germany between 2018 and 2021.

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During progression of myeloid neoplasms, the basophil compartment may expand substantially and in some of these patients, a basophilic leukemia is diagnosed. In patients with Ph-chromosome+ chronic myeloid leukemia, acceleration of disease is typically accompanied by marked basophilia. In other myeloid neoplasms, secondary leukemic expansion of basophils is rarely seen.

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Objectives: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation provides large surface exposure to human blood leading to coagulation activation. Only limited clinical data are available on contact activation and coagulation factor XII activity in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

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Cases of unusual thrombosis and thrombocytopenia after administration of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca) have been reported. The term vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) was coined to reflect this new phenomenon. In vitro experiments with VIPIT patient sera indicated that high-dose intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) competitively inhibit the platelet-activating properties of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine induced antibodies.

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Early during the course of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, reports suggested alarmingly high incidences for thromboembolic events in critically ill patients with COVID-19. However, the clinical relevance of these events was not reported in several studies. Additionally, more recent research showed contradictory results and suggested substantially lower rates of venous thromboembolism.

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Hereditary thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (hTTP) is a rare thrombotic microangiopathy characterized by severe congenital ADAMTS13 deficiency and recurring acute episodes causing morbidity and premature death. Information on the annual incidence and severity of acute episodes in patients with hTTP is largely lacking. This study reports prospective data on 87 patients from the Hereditary TTP Registry (clinicaltrials.

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Emicizumab is currently approved to prevent bleeding in patients with congenital hemophilia A with or without neutralizing antibodies (inhibitors) against factor VIII (FVIII). Here, we present a case-based discussion of its potential use in acquired hemophilia A (AHA), a severe bleeding disorder caused by autoantibodies against FVIII. State-of-the-art management is based on bypassing agents (recombinant factor VIIa, activated prothrombin complex concentrate) and recombinant porcine FVIII; immunosuppressive therapy (corticosteroids, rituximab, cyclophosphamide) is used to suppress autoantibody formation.

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Background: Acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP) is a rare, life-threatening autoimmune thrombotic microangiopathy. Current standard of care is therapeutic plasma exchange, immunosuppression, and caplacizumab, an anti-von Willebrand factor nanobody, which is effective in treating aTTP episodes.

Patients/methods: Here we report on seven episodes of aTTP treated without plasma exchange in six female patients in Germany and Austria.

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  • * In a cohort of 337 CMML patients, it was found that mutation frequencies and colony growth rates significantly increased in patients with disease transformation, with statistics indicating a strong correlation.
  • * The presence of RASopathy mutations and high colony growth prior to transformation are associated with a greater risk of developing acute myeloid leukemia (AML), suggesting the need for targeted treatment approaches in these patients.
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