Journal of Blood Medicine最新文献

Background and aims: Significance of absolute number of CD34⁺ cells in the peripheral blood of patients with less than 1% myeloblasts by manual differential count is unknown and our aim is to study its relevance in clinical practice.

Methods: We studied 138 peripheral bloods flow cytometric analyses in patients with less than 1% myeloblasts by manual differential, when CD34⁺ events were present in the gate that encompassed lymphocytes, monocytes, stem cells, and blasts.

Results: The average absolute number of CD34⁺cells in the peripheral blood was 11 CD34⁺cells/µL ranging from less than 1 cell/µL to 147 cells/µL. The average absolute number of CD34⁺ cells in patients with an abnormal expansive process involving bone marrow (metastases, myelodysplasia, granulomas, marrow infections) or if bone marrow biopsy not performed, presumed expansive marrow process was 25 cells/µL, and in patients without an expansive marrow process (or presumed negative) was 4 cells/µL (P<0.00007). Cutoff 12 CD34⁺ cells/μL had 93% positive predictive value for bone marrow involvement by an expansive process and 78% negative predictive value.

Conclusion: Flow cytometric testing of the peripheral blood is extremely sensitive method for enumerating CD34⁺ cells and can detect fewer than one CD34⁺ cell/µL. The absolute number of CD34⁺ cells in the peripheral blood is a useful parameter in determining marrow involvement by an expansive process and may provide guidance with respect to the necessity for bone marrow biopsy.

Background: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a form of the cerebrovascular disease characterized by varying degrees of obstruction of veins and cerebral sinuses caused by thrombus. Diagnosis is incredibly challenging due to the wide variety of symptoms and the distinct radiological aspects of affected vessels. In patients with venous thrombosis, the presence of D-Dimer is used as an indicator of the presence of endogenous fibrinolysis. D-Dimer is a by-product of fibrin polymer fragmentation.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the level of D-Dimer and the number of sinuses in CVST by Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA).

Methods: Retrospective data from September 2021 to September 2022 were used in this analytical observational with a cross-sectional study design. Chi-Square is used for data processing relationship analysis.

Results: Out of the 54 subjects with elevated levels of D-Dimer, 38 (70.4%) are females, whereas 16 (29.6%) are males. High levels of D-Dimer have been related to a greater risk of sinus thrombosis (p < 0.001). D-Dimer levels were similarly shown to rise in conjunction with the number of sinuses most severely damaged by thrombosis. The most common site for thrombosis to develop in this study were the left sigmoid and left transverse sinuses. Most risk factors were hormonal.

Conclusion: There is a statistically significant relationship between an increase in the D-Dimer level and the greater number of sinuses involved as determined by DSA in individuals diagnosed with CVST.

Pegcetacoplan is the newest inhibitor of the complement system to be approved by the FDA and EMA for the treatment of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH). The cyclic peptide inhibitor of C3 was evaluated in several clinical trials in PHN leading to its approval. The focus of this paper will review the efficacy and safety of Pegcetacoplan (PEG), and considerations for use in patients with PNH.

Introduction: Gynecology and obstetrics are among the specialties where blood transfusion is most practiced. This situation requires the use of good transfusion practices. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of transfusion practice in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of the University Hospital of Kinshasa (UHK).

Methods: This is a prospective, evaluative and descriptive study performed at the Department of Gyneco-Obstetrics of the University Hospital of Kinshasa from February 25 to June 25, 2020; which dealt with patients who received at least one blood transfusion.

Results: About 498 patients, 54 patients were transfused and their average age was 36.4 years, with the extremes of 14 and 60 years, the transfusion rate was 10.8%. Most of patients (n=36: 2/3) were transfused during weekend days, sachets were used as delivery materials of blood product in 57.4% of cases (n = 31). Among the prescribers of blood products, 70.4% were nurses. All transfusions were carried out in type-specific and cross-matched Rh. All the transfused patients were not aware of the disadvantages of transfusion. Compatibility tests at the patient's bedside were not performed in 61.1% of cases and the concordance control between the patient and the blood component to be transfused was not performed in 70.4% of cases. Close monitoring of blood transfusion in the first ten minutes was not performed in 59.3% of cases.

Conclusion: Transfusion encounters real practical problems in the gyneco-obstetrical environment of countries with limited resources. However, an assessment and multidisciplinary collaboration would be necessary to improve transfusion practice in medical field.

Introduction: Although hereditary von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common bleeding disorder, its epidemiology is not well understood. A systematic review (PROSPERO CRD42020197674/CRD42021244374) on the epidemiology/burden of illness of VWD was conducted to better understand patients' unmet needs.

Methods: Observational studies (published January 1, 2010 to April 14, 2021) were identified in MEDLINE and Embase databases, using free-text keywords and thesaurus terms for VWD and outcomes of interest. Pragmatic web-based searches of the gray literature, including conference abstracts, were performed, and reference lists of retained publications were manually searched for additional sources. Case reports and clinical trials (phase 1-3) were excluded. Outcomes of interest were incidence, prevalence, mortality, patient characteristics, burden of illness, and therapeutic management/treatments currently used for VWD.

Results: Of the 3095 identified sources, 168 were included in this systematic review. Reported VWD prevalence (22 sources) ranged from 108.9 to 2200 per 100,000 in population-based studies and from 0.3 to 16.5 per 100,000 in referral-based studies. Reported times between first symptom onset and diagnosis (two sources; mean 669 days; median 3 years) highlighted gaps in timely VWD diagnosis. Bleeding events reported in 72-94% of the patients with VWD (all types; 27 sources) were mostly mucocutaneous including epistaxis, menorrhagia, and oral/gum bleeding. Poorer health-related quality of life (three sources) and greater health care resource utilization (three sources) were reported for patients with VWD than in general populations.

Conclusion: Available data suggest that patients with VWD experience high disease burden in terms of bleeding, poor quality of life, and health care resource utilization.

Worldwide pandemic with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). As November 2, 2022, World Health Organization (WHO) received 628,035,553 reported incidents on COVID-19, with 6,572,800 mortalities and, with a total 12,850,970,971 vaccine doses have been delivered as of October 31, 2022. The infection can cause mild or self-limiting symptoms of pulmonary and severe infections or death may be caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Simultaneously, antivirals, corticosteroids, immunological treatments, antibiotics, and anticoagulants have been proposed as potential medicines to cure COVID-19 affected patients. Among these initial treatments, COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP), which was retrieved from COVID-19 recovered patients to be used as passive immune therapy, in which antibodies from cured patients were given to infected patients to prevent illness. Such treatment has yielded the best results in earlier with preventative or early stages of illness. Convalescent plasma (CP) is the first treatment available when infectious disease initially appears, although few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted to evaluate its effectiveness. The historical record suggests with potential benefit for other respiratory infections, as coronaviruses like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoV-I (SARS-CoV-I) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), though the analysis of such research is constrained by some non-randomized experiments (NREs). Rigorous studies on CP are made more demanding by the following with the immediacy of the epidemics, CP use may restrict the ability to utilize it for clinical testing, non-homogenous nature of product, highly decentralized manufacturing process; constraints with capacity to measure biologic function, ultimate availability of substitute therapies, as antivirals, purified immune globulins, or monoclonal antibodies. Though, it is still not clear how effectively CCP works among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The current review tries to focus on its efficiency and usage in clinical scenarios and identifying existing benefits of implementation during pandemic or how it may assist with future pandemic preventions.

Introduction: Anticoagulants are the cornerstone therapy for thromboembolism prevention and treatment. Warfarin is the frequently prescribed drug and remains the oral anticoagulant of choice in low- and middle-income countries, including Ethiopia. It is a narrow therapeutic index drug that needs high-quality anticoagulation monitoring with frequent international normalization ratio (INR) testing.

Objective: The study aimed to assess anticoagulation management with warfarin among adult outpatients at two selected private cardiac centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods: A hospital-based retrospective study design that enrolled 374 patients receiving warfarin was employed at two private cardiac centres in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The time in the therapeutic range (TTR) was calculated using the Rosendaal method. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science version 25.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 57 years, and 218 (58.3%) participants were females. Out of 3384 INR tests, 1562 (46.5%) were within the therapeutic range and the mean percentage of TTR was 47.24%. Only 25.67% of the patients spent their TTR ≥ 65%. The present study revealed that dose adjustments were required 1764 times. In non-therapeutic INR values of 1764 that required warfarin dose adjustment, 59.7% of the doses were adjusted. About 262 (70.1%) of co-prescribed medications had interaction with warfarin. Sixty-four patients (17.11%) experienced bleeding events.

Conclusion: Anticoagulation management with warfarin was suboptimal in private cardiac Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, private cardiac centers. Warfarin adjustment practice for nontherapeutic INR values was not minimal, and many patients encountered bleeding during their course of therapy.

Micro-ribonucleic acids are control gene expression in cells. They represent the changed cellular states that occur can be employed as biomarkers. Red blood cells alter biochemically and morphologically while they are being stored, which could be detrimental to transfusion. The effect of storage on the erythrocyte transcriptome is not mostly investigated. Because adult erythrocytes lack a nucleus, it has long been assumed that they lack deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid. On the other hand, erythrocytes contain a diverse range of ribonucleic acids, of which micro-ribonucleic acids are key component. Changes in this micro-ribonucleic acid protect cells from death and adenine triphosphate depletion, and they are linked to specific storage lesions. As a result, changes in micro-ribonucleic acid in stored erythrocytes may be used as a marker to assess the quality and safety of stored erythrocytes. Therefore, this review ams to review the role of microRNA in stored packed red blood cells as quality indicator. Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Z-libraries are used for searching articles and books. The article included in this paper was written in the English language and had the full article. During long storage of RBCs, miR-16-2-3p, miR-1260a, miR-1260b, miR-4443, miR-4695-3p, miR-5100, let-7b, miR-16, miRNA-1246, MiR-31-5p, miR-203a, miR-654-3p, miR-769-3p, miR-4454, miR-451a and miR-125b- 5p are up regulated. However, miR-96, miR-150, miR-196a, miR-197, miR-381 and miR-1245a are down regulated after long storage of RBCs. The changes of this microRNAs are linked to red blood cell lesions. Therefore, micro-ribonucleic acids are the potential quality indicator in stored packed red blood cells in the blood bank. Particularly, micro-ribonucleic acid-96 is the most suitable biomarker for monitoring red blood cell quality in stored packed red blood units.

Purpose: To assess clinical and haematological outcomes of Hydroxyurea accessed via various access means and uncover the barriers to its utilization in children with Sickle cell anaemia (SCA), North-western Tanzania.

Patients and methods: A retrospective study was conducted between October 2020 and April 2021 at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) through review of medical files to compare the clinical and haematological outcomes among children with SCA at baseline and followed up retrospectively for at least one year of hydroxyurea utilization, accessed via cash, insurance and projects. Subsequently, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among parents and caregivers to ascertain the barriers to access of hydroxyurea via the various means. The p-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: We identified 87 children with SCA who were on hydroxyurea for at least one year. The median age at baseline (before hydroxyurea) was 99 [78-151] months, and 52/87 (59.8%) were male. Compared to baseline, there was a significant reduction in proportion of patients reporting vaso-occlusive crisis, admissions and blood transfusions, a significant increase in Haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume, conversely a significant reduction in absolute neutrophil and reticulocytes to both insurance and project participants. There was no significant change in most of these parameters among patients who accessed hydroxyurea via cash. Further, a total of 24/87 (27.6%) participants reported different barriers to access of hydroxyurea, where 10/24 (41.7%) reported hydroxyurea to be very expensive, 10/24 (41.7%) reported insurance challenges, and 4/21 (16.6%) reported unavailability of the drug.

Conclusion: The paediatric patients utilizing hydroxyurea accessed via insurance and projects, but not cash, experienced significant improvement in the clinical and haematological outcomes. Several barriers for access to hydroxyurea were observed which appeared to impact these outcomes. These findings call for concerted efforts to improve the sustainable access to hydroxyurea among all patients with SCA.

Background: Malaria is a major public health problem with the highest morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Hematological changes play a great role in malaria pathogenesis through platelets and platelet parameters. However, the changes in platelet parameters are not clearly described in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to compare platelet parameters and their correlation with parasitemia among malaria-infected adult patients and healthy adults.

Methods: An institutional-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted involving 186 (93 malaria-infected patients and 93 healthy adults) study participants using a convenient sampling technique at Jinella health center, Harar, Eastern Ethiopia, from July 10-August 10, 2022. Five milliliters of venous blood were collected from each study participant, and platelet parameters were analyzed using a Unicel (DxH 800) automated hematologic analyzer. A drop of blood was taken from malaria-suspected patients for blood film preparation. Results between two groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationships between two continuous variables. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Platelet, plateletcrit, and mean platelet volume of malaria-infected patients were significantly lower as compared with healthy adults (103 x10³cells/μL vs 268 x10³cells/μL, 0.13 fl vs 0.23 fl, and 9.6 fl vs 15.3 fl), respectively). Conversely, platelet distribution width and platelet large cell ratio were higher in malaria-infected patients than healthy adults (19.2% vs 15.3% and 0.35% vs 0.29%), respectively). Parasitemia levels had a moderately inverse correlation with platelet count (r= -0.419) and a weakly positive correlation with mean platelet volume (r=0.278).

Conclusion: The platelet, plateletcrit, and mean platelet volume of malaria-infected patients were significantly lower as compared with healthy adults. Malaria parasitemia had a moderate inverse correlation with platelet count and a weak positive correlation with mean platelet volume. Thrombocytopenia and alteration of platelet parameters should be considered in malaria patients.