Post-transfusion purpura after cardiac surgery associated with veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

We report the case of a woman who developed post-transfusion purpura following complicated cardiac surgery requiring multiple blood product transfusions and extracorporeal life support. This case highlights the challenges of managing thrombocytopenia in patients supported with prolonged mechanical cardiovascular and renal support with ongoing blood product transfusion requirements. The differential diagnoses are broad, varied and may overlap. Whilst post-transfusion purpura is very rare, clinical signs may prompt consideration and further specific diagnostic testing. Once confirmed, management is then specific, with some aspects which are at direct variance with standard intensive care and extracorporeal life support guidelines for the management of non-specific thrombocytopenia. Consideration of the diagnosis of post-transfusion purpura early in the clinical course could help anticipate and prevent a vicious cycle of bleeding, transfusion and autoimmune-mediated platelet disruption, and may improve clinical outcomes.

High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation for primary central nervous system lymphoma: a multi-centre retrospective analysis from the United Kingdom.

The prognosis of patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) has improved in recent years. This has partly been achieved by remission induction protocols incorporating high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) and rituximab. Given the high rates of relapse, consolidation therapy is usually considered in first response. Whole brain radiotherapy may prolong PFS but appears to confer no long-term survival advantage and is associated with significant neurocognitive dysfunction. Attempts to improve efficacy and reduce neurotoxicity of consolidation therapy have included thiotepa-based high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant (HDC-ASCT). This multi-centre, retrospective study reports the outcome of 70 patients undergoing HDC-ASCT for PCNSL in the United Kingdom. The median age at diagnosis was 56 years and all patients received HD-MTX-containing induction regimens. All patients underwent HDC-ASCT in first response. The rate of complete response increased from 50% before HDC-ASCT to 77% following HDC-ASCT. Treatment-related mortality was 6%. At a median follow-up of 12 months from HDC-ASCT, the estimated 1- and 2-year PFS rates were 71.5% and overall survival 86.4% and 83.3%, respectively. These data are comparable to published studies of HDC-ASCT for PCNSL, supporting its feasibility and efficacy.

A randomised comparison of the novel nucleoside analogue sapacitabine with low-dose cytarabine in older patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.

The development of new treatments for older patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an active area, but has met with limited success. Sapacitabine is a novel orally administered nucleoside analogue that has shown encouraging activity in unrandomised early-stage trials. We randomised 143 untreated patients with AML or with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (>10% marrow blasts) between sapacitibine and low-dose ara-C (LDAC) in our 'Pick a Winner' trial design. At the planned interim analysis there was no difference between LDAC and sapacitibine in terms of remission rate (CR/CRi, 27% vs 16% hazard ratio (HR) 1.98(0.90-4.39) P=0.09), relapse-free survival (10% vs 14% at 2 years, HR 0.73(0.33-1.61) P=0.4) or overall survival (OS; 12% vs 11% at 2 years, HR 1.24(0.86-1.78) P=0.2). Sapacitibine was well tolerated, apart from more grade 3/4 diarrhoea. On the basis of these findings sapacitibine did not show sufficient evidence of benefit over LDAC for the trial to be continued.

Caspofungin for invasive fungal infections: combination treatment with liposomal amphotericin B in children undergoing hemopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Invasive fungal infections often prove difficult to eradicate especially in the stem cell transplant setting. Amphotericin has been the mainstay of treatment for years but has significant toxicity. Newer antifungal agents, such as caspofungin, have shown promising results in adults, particularly when used in combination with amphotericin as both drugs differ in their mode of action. However, there are few data from children and no previous published information about the use of Caspofungin after paediatric stem cell transplantation. We report our experience in children with proven invasive fungal infections after stem cell transplantation. This combination was non-toxic, and two of three patients survived their infections.