An 18-year review of open and laparoscopic splenectomy for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

Background: Laparoscopic splenectomy has become the preferred surgical procedure for the management of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). However, there studies have directly compared the incidence of recurrent ITP secondary to missed accessory spleens in open versus laparoscopic splenectomy.

Methods: Open and laparoscopic splenectomies performed for ITP at 4 sites over 18 years were analyzed.

Universal prestorage leukoreduction in Canada decreases platelet alloimmunization and refractoriness.

Randomized controlled trials have shown a reduction in platelet alloimmunization and refractoriness in patients with acute leukemia (AL) with the use of poststorage leukoreduction of blood products. Universal prestorage leukoreduction (ULR) of red cell and platelet products has been performed in Canada since August 1999. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 13 902 platelet transfusions in 617 patients undergoing chemotherapy (CT) for AL or stem cell transplantation (SCT) before (n = 315) and after (n = 302) the introduction of ULR.

Quantitation of primitive and lineage-committed progenitors in mobilized peripheral blood for prediction of platelet recovery post autologous transplant.

Leukapheresis collections obtained following one of four mobilization regimens from 90 cancer patients were analyzed for their content of various progenitor cell types including erythroid and granulopoietic colony-forming cells in methylcellulose (total CFC), CFC-megakaryocyte (CFC-Mk), CFC detected after 10, 35 and 56 days in long-term culture (LTC), and total CD34+ cells. The number of each of these progenitor cell types collected from individual patients varied over 1000-fold. Nevertheless, within an individual leukapheresis, there was a significant correlation between the number of CD34+ cells and each progenitor type (except day 56 LTC CFC) suggesting that all of them are mobilized by a common mechanism.

Clinical evaluation of a staphylococcal protein A immunoadsorption system in the treatment of myasthenia gravis patients.

Background: The role of plasma exchange is well established in the management of myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle weakness and caused by circulating IgG antibodies with specificity against the acetylcholine receptor. Plasma antibody removal by conventional means, however, is nonselective and uses replacement fluids (chiefly, albumin solution) derived from human plasma.

Study Design And Methods: The Canadian Apheresis Group undertook a study at two Canadian apheresis centers to clinically evaluate a staphylococcal protein A immunoadsorption system (EXCORIM) in myasthenia gravis patients.