Background/aim COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease of 2019) is an infectious disease outbreak later on declared as a pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2). It spreads very rapidly and can result in severe acute respiratory failure. The clinical studies have shown that advanced age and chronic diseases increase the risk of infection. However, influence of the blood groups on COVID-19 infection and its outcome remains to be confirmed. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there exists a relationship between the blood groups of the patients and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Material and method 186 patients with PCR confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 were included in this study. Age, sex, blood groups, comorbidities, need for intubation and intensive care unit follow up and mortalities of the patients were analyzed retrospectively. 1881 healthy individuals, who presented to the Hacettepe University Blood Bank served as the controls. Results The most frequently detected blood group was blood group A (57%) amongst the COVID-19 patients. This was followed by blood group O (24.8%). The blood group types did not affect the clinical outcomes. The blood group A was statistically significantly more frequent among those infected with COVID-19 compared to controls (57% vs. 38%, P < 0.001; OR: 2.1). On the other hand, the frequency of blood group O was significantly lower in the COVID-19 patients, compared to the control group (24.8% vs. 37.2%, P: 0.001; OR: 1.8). Conclusions The results of the present study suggest that while the blood group A might have a role in increased susceptibility to the COVID-19 infection, the blood group O might be somewhat protective. However, once infected, blood group type does not seem to influence clinical outcome.

Acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) first identified in Wuhan, China; and spread all over the world. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2 usually returns to negative in 20 days post-infection, but prolonged positivity has been reported up to 63 days. A case whose viral shedding lasted 60 days is reported from China. Herein we report a patient with a history of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for lymphoma whose RT-PCR test remained positive for SARS-CoV-2 for 74 days. The prolonged RT-PCR positivity, despite convalescent plasma infusion, may suggest that the given antibodies may be ineffective in terms of viral clearance. In patients with hematological malignancies or immunosuppression, such as ASCT, may lead to prolonged viral shedding, and strict isolation is warranted for long-term SARS-CoV-2 infection control.

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Background/aim: The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 was named as COVID-19.There is as yet insufficient information about the effects of HSCT on the clinical course of COVID-19. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the clinical course of COVID-19 in patients who had undergone HSCT. Materials and methods:We analyzed baseline characteristics, clinical course and findings of COVID-19, hospitalization and death rates, overall survival and case fatality rates of HSCT recipients diagnosed with COVID-19 retrospectively.Results: 57.6% of the patients underwent AHSCT, and 42.4% underwent allo-HSCT. 60.6%, 27.3%, and 12.1% of the patients had mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 or critical illness, respectively. 45.5% were hospitalized, and 12.1% required intensive care. 9.1% necessitated invasive mechanical ventilation. The total CFR was 9.1% in HSCT recipients, 22.2% in patients with active hematologic malignancy and 4.2% in patients without active hematologic malignancy. Conclusion:It can be concluded that mortality of HSCT recipients is lower in patients whose primary disease is in remission compared to ones that are not in remission.Further studies with larger group patients are needed in order to delineate the effects of COVID-19 on HSCT patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate extramedullary (EM) relapses and its features in an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) cohort, which consisted of patients with acute leukemia and advanced-phase chronic myeloid leukemia. One hundred and twenty-eight alloHSCT patients transplanted between the years 2001 and 2014 were analyzed. EM relapses observed in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were more frequent than that of in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and CML, although calculation of cumulative risk incidence, BM relapse, EM relapse, and non-relapse mortality were considered as competing risks of each other. At the 60 month, estimated CBMR and CEMR incidences were, respectively, 14.3 (5.1)% and 25.9 (6.6)% in ALL, 25.8 (5.9)% and 15.5 (4.8)% in AML, and 61.5 (16.5)% and 17.9 (13.4)% in CML. Among multiple parameters, the only type of conditioning regimen (p:0.046), EM involvement at diagnosis (p:0.009), and the presence of GVHD were found to be associated with EM relapse risk independently (p:0.045). Chronic GVHD and TBI-based regimens significantly decreased the EM relapse risk, whereas it was higher with Mel/Flu and its variants. In conclusion, EM relapse is not uncommon after alloHSCT. GVHD and TBI-based regimens may prevent this complication.

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Overall, 13 (31.7%) patients achieved a complete cytogenetic response with imatinib treatment, with no events. In 25 patients, imatinib was discontinued owing to primary or secondary resistance. In patients with initial dysmyelopoiesis, the rate of BM fibrosis was 82.4 versus 47.6% for other patient groups (P = 0.02). Overall, 24 patients with newly diagnosed CML showed marrow fibrosis, among which 19 (79.1%) had imatinib resistance. However, only 5 out of 15 patients (33.5%) without marrow fibrosis had imatinib resistance (P = 0.08). Discussion Our findings indicate that BM fibrosis is an independent predictor of the 'TKI drug response level' in CML and support its inclusion as a critical pathobiological parameter for decision-making with regard to TKI drug selection de novo, calculation of prognosis at the onset of disease, and monitoring response to TKI in the long-term disease course of CML.

Nasal-type natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma (NKTL) is a rare disease strongly associated with Epstein-Barr virus and is often localized to the upper aerodigestive tract at presentation. Extranodal NKTL may involve any extranodal site and disease beyond the nasal cavity is highly aggressive, with short survival time and poor response to therapy. Herein we present a 57-year-old male that had been treated with systemic chemotherapy and cranial radiotherapy for nasaltype NKTL in the palate with skin, right eye, and right peroneal nerve involvement. He was given salvage chemotherapy consisting of 3 cycles of ICE and his response to the therapy was satisfactory, except for persistent right drop foot. About 6 weeks later, the patient presented with bilateral total loss of vision and proptosis; therefore, DHAP chemotherapy was started. Unfortunately, after 1 cycle of the second salvage chemotherapy, he died due to severe fungal infection of the hard palate. Despite the fact that involvement of any extranodal site is possible, concurrent involvement of many systems in NKTL patients is unusual. Nasal-type NKTL has a poor prognosis, despite local radiotherapy and systemic chemotherapy. Physicians should be aware of this rare disorder than can only be diagnosed after extensive immunohistochemical studies.Conflict of interest:None declared.