The risk of invasive aspergillosis (IA) is considered to be low among autologous HSCT recipients, but an increase in the incidence has been observed recently in this setting. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of immunosuppressive drugs (steroids, rituximab, fludarabine, thalidomide), used in treatment of lymphoid malignancies during 6 months of pretransplant period, on IA incidence after autologous HSCT. A total of 109 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), Hodgkin's disease (HD) and multiple myeloma (MM), conditioned with carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan or melphalan and transplanted with PBSC, were analyzed prospectively. Patients were monitored with twice-weekly galactomannan test. High-resolution computed tomograhy of the chest and bronchoscopy were performed in case of positive galactomanan test, persistent fever or pulmonary infiltrates. Documented IA was diagnosed in nine (8%) patients (three proven, six probable). The incidence of IA was comparable in NHL, HD and MM patients and not influenced by age, advanced disease or conditioning regimen. Factors significant for development of documented IA by univariate analysis were treatment with fludarabine (P ¼ 0.008) or rituximab (P ¼ 0.039). The only factor predicting documented IA by multivariate analysis was treatment with fludarabine (P ¼ 0.008). Patients treated with fludarabine or rituximab in pretransplant period are at risk of IA and require close monitoring and/or anti-mould prophylaxis.

NE is a rare but severe complication in patients undergoing autoSCT. Gram-negative bacteria remain the main causative pathogen. Abdominal sonography allows early diagnosis and treatment, effective in most of patients without surgery. In our analysis, NE was seen more often in NHL patients treated with a BEAM regimen.

Significant changes in the frequency of candidaemia and the distribution of causative species have been noted worldwide in the last two decades. In this study, we present the results of the first multicentre survey of fungaemia in Polish hospitals. A total of 302 candidaemia episodes in 294 patients were identified in 20 hospitals during a 2-year period. The highest number of infections was found in intensive care (30.8%) and surgical (29.5%) units, followed by haematological (15.9%), 'others' (19.2%) and neonatological (4.6%) units. Candida albicans was isolated from 50.96% of episodes; its prevalence was higher in intensive care unit and neonatology (61.22% and 73.33%, respectively), and significantly lower in haematology (22%; P < 0.001). The frequency of C. krusei and C. tropicalis was significantly higher (24% and 18%) in haematology (P < 0.02); whereas, the distribution of C. glabrata (14.1%) and C. parapsilosis (13.1%) did not possess statistically significant differences between compared departments. Obtained data indicates that species distribution of Candida blood isolates in Polish hospitals reflects worldwide trends, particularly a decrease in the prevalence of infections due to C. albicans.

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Today's treatment and diagnosis of prostate cancer still exhibit major limitations. The search for new and additional prognostic markers is therefore still an actual Weld of interest. Potential markers involved in numerous biological processes in the tumor cell have been investigated intensively. For therapeutic interventions it is important to distinguish between harmless and aggressive disease in an early stage. Therefore the subject of this review is limited to markers associated with those functional processes, which discriminate early stage aggressive, metastatic cancer from harmless disease. Important processes in this respect are: altered cell adhesion and cellular migration. E-cadherin, N-cadherin, -catenin, integrins, focal adhesion kinase, connexins and matrix metalloproteinases all appear promising biological markers associated with the early stage metastatic process in prostate cancer. Here we discuss their potential to become valid biological markers based on literature data. Thus far, none of these markers proved to be a valid individual marker by itself due to prostate cancer heterogeneity and transient expression. Analyzing a combination of the potential markers discussed in this review is expected to be a better approach toward discriminating high-from low-risk tumors in an early stage of prostate cancer.