Our findings suggest that the frequency of EGFR mutations in Latin America lies between that of Asian and Caucasian populations and therefore support the genetic heterogeneity of NSCLC around the world.

BackgroundAssociations between aplastic anemia and numerous drugs, pesticides and chemicals have been reported. However, at least 50% of the etiology of aplastic anemia remains unexplained.

Agranulocytosis seems to be very rare in Latin America. The lower than expected number of cases identified during the study period precluded estimation of the risk associated to individual drugs, with the exception of methimazol. However, this is the longest series of agranulocytosis cases ever gathered in Latin America, and information on drug exposures was collected prospectively. The conclusion is that drug-induced agranulocytosis does not seem to be a major public health problem in the study regions.

We describe a patient with essential thrombocythemia (ET) who developed multiple myeloma (MM) 5 years after the initial diagnosis. A review of the literature revealed no additional reports of the association of these two diseases. Development of MM was not related to treatment of essential thrombocythemia. This association suggests an alteration at the pluripotential stem cell level.