Nephrotic syndrome (NS) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a rare phenomenon usually associated with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). This systematic review of post-HSCT NS cases reported in the literature aimed to identify risk factors and unique features of the disease in this clinical setting. One hundred sixteen cases of post-HSCT NS published in the English literature between 1988 and 2015 were revealed and analyzed. The median onset of NS was 20.5 months (range, 3 to 174) post-HSCT. NS development was associated with acute or chronic GVHD in 87.2% of cases. Membranous nephropathy (MGN) was the most frequent pathology (65.5%), followed by minimal change disease (MCD) (19%). Complete remission of the NS was achieved in 63.5% of patients (59.1% of MGN cases and 81.3% of MCD cases; P = .15). Patients presenting with MCD recovered at a median of 1.75 months (range, 1 to 12) and with MGN a median of 7 months (range, 1 to 53) (P = .001). NS was treated with corticosteroids alone in 16.8% of patients and with a combination of corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive agents in 73.5% of patients. Univariate analysis failed to identify a single predictive factor of response to therapy. In conclusion, post-HSCT NS usually develops concomitant to GVHD and is associated with high rates of response to therapy. Although most patients were treated with a combination of immunosuppressive drugs, single-agent therapy with steroids may be sufficient in some cases.
Novel myeloma treatments prolong patient survival and more patients with profound immunosuppression following multiple lines of therapies are seen in clinical practice. These patients may present with opportunistic infections that were rare in the past. Our findings suggest a possible association between daratumumab therapy (in combination with other immunosuppressive therapies) and severe CMV gastrointestinal disease. A longer follow-up is needed to explore long-term side effects of novel agents like daratumumab in newly diagnosed as well as heavily pretreated MM patients.
This study analyzes prospectively the antibiotic prescription habits in terms of appropriateness of use and cost pattern effects in the paediatric wards of two different university hospital patient set-ups. Data on demographics, discharge diagnosis, antibiotic utilization and costs were collected prospectively from the children's individual electronic charts at Rambam Health Care Campus (R) and Kaplan Medical Centre (K) in Israel. A total of 505 and 497 children from R and K units, respectively, were screened. Of the surveyed population, 239 and 330 children in the R and K units were hospitalized due to infectious diseases. The antibiotic appropriateness for the R and K units were 84% and 91%, respectively (p>0.5). Total antibiotics Defined Daily Dose (DDD) and Drug Utilization 90% (DU90%) index were 241.7 and 217.5 for the R unit and 388 and 349.2 for the K unit, (p<0.001). Drug Cost 90% indices (DC90%) for the two units were NIS 6,023.5 and NIS 5,955.8; respectively. This study generates up-to-date information on the antimicrobial prescription habits in two different hospitals and suggests that antibiotic treatment in both hospitals appears to be appropriate. Significant lower median antibiotic cost was depicted in the K admission unit in comparison to the R admission unit (11.3 NIS - 40.0 NIS; p<0.01), respectively. Drug use evaluations are useful indicators for following trends of drug prescription, optimizing antibiotic usage and controlling expenditure.
Drug utilization in the in-patient setting can provide mechanisms to assess drug prescribing trends, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of hospital formularies and examine sub-populations such as children for which prescribing habits are different from adults.ObjectivesThe aim of this descriptive study was to analyze general medication utilization patterns and costs excluding antimicrobials prescriptions and to compare two pediatric admission units in a tertiary care university hospital.MethodsThe total number of admitted children was 1,521 and 1,467 for the A and B admission units, respectively. The electronic data from 252 and 253 hospitalized children in the A and B admission unit were prospectively screened for general medication prescriptions, children on antimicrobials were excluded from the analysis. Their electronic charts were viewed once weekly from October 15, 2007 up to April 7, 2008 using the prescription-point prevalence method. One medication was considered to be one prescription.ResultsThe general medications prescription number was 790 for 94 children (8.4 prescription/patient) in A and 959 for 88 children (10.9 prescription/patient) in B (p=0.02). The general medications defined daily dose (DDD) and drug utilization 90% (DU90%) index were 2,509.63, 2,259 for A; and 6,110.35, 5,499 for B, respectively. The DU90% index placed salbutamol inhalation with 835 DDD and sodium heparin with 2,102 DDD in the first place for the A and B admission units, respectively. A net increment in medication cost was registered according to the calculated cost from the depicted DU90% when the A (20,263 NIS) and B (6,269 NIS) admission units were compared (p=0.04).ConclusionsA significant difference in the prescription utilization of general medications was shown between the A and B admission units. The A admission unit had lower prescriptions measured by the DU90% index with higher medication cost. Potential drug-drug interactions were depicted in 18 (19%) and 17 (19%) subjects in the A and B admission unit, respectively.
Introduction: Immature platelet fraction (IPF) is a new laboratory parameter, representing a fraction of young platelets in peripheral blood count which is known to correlate with thrombopoiesis. IPF can be reported in absolute numbers or expressed as percentage (IPF%) of total platelet count. IPF% can be used to differentiate individuals at higher risk for bleeding among patients suffering from immune thrombocytopenia and to predict recovery of blood counts after stem cell transplantation (SCT). Moreover, IPF% was also reported to predict the development of sepsis in patients admitted to the general intensive care unit. This study was aimed to prospectively evaluate the value of IPF% as a predictor of clinical outcome and/or mortality in patients susceptible to sepsis. Methods: Two different patient populations at high risk for life-threatening infection, i.e., patients presenting with fever and neutropenia and adults admitted to the general intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary health care center for various reasons apart from neutropenic fever were prospectively studied. IPF was measured using the Sysmex XE-2100 analyzer during the first 24 hours of hospitalization. In addition, C-reactive protein (CRP) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were tested in some of the patients. All patients were monitored and their vital signs, renal function, hemodynamic and respiratory state, as well as final outcome were recorded. For patients with neutropenic fever, the infectious pathogen was listed, whenever identified. Treating physicians were blinded to IPF% results to ensure that clinical decisions were not affected by consideration of this parameter. Results: One hundred and four adults with neutropenic fever and 138 additional adults admitted to the ICU were included in the study. A median age of patients admitted to ICU and those with neutropenic fever was 53 (range 17-88) and 55 (range 18-85) years; males composed 58% and 60% of the cohorts, respectively. A mean IPF% in patients admitted to ICU was significantly higher than that determined in neutropenic patients (8.6 vs 6.8). IPF% levels during the first 24 hours of admission, predicted mortality (p = 0.037) for patients admitted to ICU but not for patients presenting with neutropenic fever. In patients admitted to ICU, high IPF% was also associated with length of stay in the unit, poor hemodynamic status, and death. Neither IL-6 plasma level nor CRP correlated with these clinical outcomes. APACHE-II score (a known disease severity scale in ICU patients) and IPF% were not correlated by Pearson test (p=0.09). Conclusion: IPF% is a valuable biomarker for predicting prognosis in ICU patients independent of APACHE-II score. This study suggests that the validity of IPF% as a predictor of outcome depends on the bone marrow (BM) capacity. In patients with normal bone marrow admitted to ICU, IPF% correlates with the significance of stress and severity of the disease. In patients presenting with neutropenic fever, BM reserve is impaired due to chemotherapy. Larger studies are needed to evaluate the role of IPF% in different patient populations and to determine its application to patients with impaired BM reserves such as immunocompromised patients and those at older age. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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