Molecular monitoring of Tunisian patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Background: bcr-abl fusion gene is the hallmark of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). RQ-PCR provides an accurate measure of the total leukemia cell mass and the degree to which bcr-abl transcripts are reduced by therapy correlates with progression free survival.

Aim: We report molecular assessment of residual disease in CML Tunisian patients.

[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.

Tunisian adult's Hodgkin lymphoma Study Group.

The Tunisian adult's Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) Study Group was created in 1999. It aimed to improve the management of this curable hematologic malignancy by standardizing the diagnosis, assessment of disease, treatment management and therapeutic evaluation in different Tunisian centers (Hematology, oncology and radiotherapy).Since 1998, four versions of the prospective national protocol for treating adult Hodgkin lymphoma have succeeded (MDH99, MDH2002, MDH2008, MDH2015).

Primary adrenal lymphoma.

Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the adrenal gland is rare. We report the case of a 56-year-old patient suffering from B symptoms. The CT scan showed a bilateral adrenal mass without any lymph nodes.

Treatment of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia with AIDA Based Regimen. Update of a Tunisian Single Center Study.

In Tunisia, the ATRA era began in 1998 with the use, consecutively, of two regimens combining ATRA and an anthracycline with cytarabine (APL93), and without cytarabine (LPA99). From 2004, 51 patients with confirmed APL either by t(15;17) or PML/RARA were treated according to the PETHEMA LPA 99 trial. Forty three patients achieved CR (86%).

Risk factors of septic shock in patients with hematologic malignancies and Pseudomonas infections.

Pseudomonas is a clinically significant and opportunist pathogen, usually associated in causing high mortality nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors associated with septic shock in patients diagnosed with hematologic malignancies and Pseudomonas infections. A total of 80 Pseudomonas isolates (77 Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were collected from 66 patients aged 2-64 years: 52 with acute leukemia (79%), 7 with lymphoma (10.

ATRA and anthracycline-based chemotherapy in the treatment of childhood acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL): A 10-year experience in Tunisia.

Reports on childhood APL from developing countries are scarce. We treated 65 APL with two consecutive trials combining ATRA and chemotherapy. Twenty (30.

Treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia with PETHEMA LPA 99 protocol: a Tunisian single center experience.

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) has now become the most curable of all subtypes of acute myeloid leukemia. A cure rate of 75-80% can be anticipated with a combination of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and anthracyclines. In Tunisia, the ATRA era began in 1998 with the use, consecutively, of two regimens of a combination of ATRA with anthracycline and cytarabine (APL93), and without cytarabine (LPA99).

Factors associated with severe sepsis: prospective study of 94 neutropenic febrile episodes.

Severe sepsis defined as infection-induced organ dysfunction or hypoperfusion abnormalities predispose to septic shock and increased mortality in neutropenic setting. We aimed at determining predictors of severe sepsis in neutropenic patients. Between 1 October and 31 December 2007, 41 patients (21 with acute myeloid leukemia, 19 with acute lymphoid leukemia and one with autologous stem cell transplantation for a mantle cell lymphoma) with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (<0.

Predictive factors of all-trans-retinoic acid related complications during induction therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Background: The combination of all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) and chemotherapy has made acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) a highly curable leukemia. However, several complications are reported with this treatment the most serious and life threatening being Retinoic Acid Syndrome (RAS). We aimed at identifying factors that could predict complications caused by ATRA during induction treatment of APL.

[Therapeutic results with apl 93 protocol in acute promyelocytic leukemia (34 cases)].

Background: Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) account for approximately 10% to 15% of all AML in most reports. Clinical features includes the presence in 80% to 90% of patients of a severe hemorrhagic syndrome, a specific balanced translocation between chromosomes 15 and 17 with a fusion of a large pert of the retinoic acid receptor a gene (RARa) on chromosome 17 to a part of the promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) gene on chromosome 15. More than 75% of patients (under 65 years of age) can be cured, with the application of a combination of anthracyclines and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), followed by maintenance therapy.

[Pseudotumor cerebri with all-trans retinoic acid. A case report].

The diagnosis of pseudotumor cerebri (PC) is based on the triad of: (1) papilledema, (2) elevated intracranial pressure with a normal cerebrospinal constituency and (3) normal central nervous system imaging studies. It is an uncommon complication of all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) therapy in children treated for acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL). Its occurrence is rare among adult patients with APL and treated with ATRA .

[Alpha interferon in children with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid-leukaemia].

The present work focuses on the therapeutic efficacy and the toxicity of alpha interferon in patients younger than age 18 years. 5 patients younger than 18 years were treated and followed up between 1990 and 1999 at the department of haematology (Aziza Othmana Hospital) Hydroxyurea was given as initial treatment to all patients. After a median period of 8 months, these patients received alpha interferon (5 millions units/m2 once).

Cytogenetic survey of 117 Tunisian patients with de novo myelodysplastic syndrome.

Cytogenetic studies were performed on 117 Tunisian patients with de novo myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). According to the French-American-British (FAB) criteria 40 patients presented with refractory anaemia (RA, 34%), eight with refractory anaemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARAS, 7%), 19 with refractory anaemia with excess of blasts (RAEB, 16%), 16 with refractory anaemia with excess of blasts in transformation (RAEB-t, 14%), 18 had chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML, 15%) and 16 unclassifiable MDS (14%). Seventy-five were men and forty-two were women.