[Persistent anemia after kidney transplantation in a 36-year-old male patient-an unusual cause]. / Persistierende Anämie nach Nierentransplantation bei einem 36-jährigen Patienten ­ eine ungewöhnliche Ursache.

An allogeneic kidney transplantation (match 1­1­0, cytomegalovirus, CMV, donor, D, +/recipient, R, - high risk) was performed in a 36-year-old patient. The patient was on dialysis due to a tubulointerstitial nephritis confirmed by biopsy 11 years previously. Posttransplantation there was a gradual decrease in the hemoglobin (Hb) level from 11.4 g/dl to 7.3 g/dl during the initial hospitalization period. Initially this was explained by the kidney transplantation and chronic fibrosing antral gastritis with erosions. Despite repeated transfusion of red cell concentrates, a refractory anemia persisted, which is why the patient presented several times at our clinic for further diagnosis and treatment. The presence of giant erythroblasts in the bone marrow and quantitative detection of parvovirus B19 (>900 million IU/ml DNA replications) was consistent with a virus-associated red cell aplasia. Intravenous immunoglobulin administration was established and showed long-term therapeutic success.

Interferon alpha 2 maintenance therapy may enable high rates of treatment discontinuation in chronic myeloid leukemia.

A minority of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients is capable of successfully discontinuing imatinib. Treatment modalities to increase this proportion are currently unknown. Here, we assessed the role of interferon alpha 2a (IFN) on therapy discontinuation in a previously reported cohort of 20 chronic phase CML patients who were treated upfront with IFN alpha plus imatinib followed by IFN monotherapy to maintain cytogenetic or molecular remission (MR) after imatinib discontinuation. After a median follow-up of 7.9 years (range, 5.2-12.2), relapse-free survival was 73% (8/11 patients) and 84% (5/6 patients) for patients who discontinued imatinib in major MR (MMR) and MR4/MR4.5, respectively. Ten patients discontinued IFN after a median of 4.5 years (range, 0.24-9.3). After a median of 2.8 years (range, 0.7-5.1), nine of them remain in ongoing treatment-free remission with MR5 (n=6) and MR4.5 (n=3). The four patients who still administer IFN are in stable MR5, MR4.5, MR4, and MMR, respectively. In conclusion, an IFN/imatinib induction treatment followed by a temporary IFN maintenance therapy may enable a high rate of treatment discontinuation in CML patients in at least MMR when stopping imatinib.