Peripherally inserted central venous catheters decrease central line-associated bloodstream infections and change microbiological epidemiology in adult hematology unit: a propensity score-adjusted analysis.

Peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICCs) have a potential advantage in preventing central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) compared with the centrally inserted ones (CICCs). However, due to a limited number of studies with insufficient statistical evaluation, the superiority of PICCs is difficult to be generalized in adult hematology unit. We conducted a single-center retrospective study and compared the risk of CLABSI between 472 CICCs and 557 PICCs inserted in adult patients with hematological disorders through conventional multivariate models and a propensity score-adjusted analysis. The overall CLABSI incidence in CICCs and PICCs was 5.11 and 3.29 per 1000 catheter days (P = 0.024). The multivariate Cox regression analysis (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.48; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.31-0.75; P = 0.001) and Fine-Gray subdistribution analysis (HR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.37-0.93; P = 0.023) demonstrated that PICC was independently associated with a reduced risk of CLABSI. Moreover, the stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis, which further reduced the selection bias between CICCs and PICCs, showed that PICCs significantly prevented CLABSI (HR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.35-0.94; P = 0.029). Microbiologically, PICCs showed a significant decrease in gram-positive cocci (P = 0.001) and an increase in gram-positive bacilli (P = 0.002) because of a remarkable reduction in Staphylococci and increase in Corynebacterium species responsible for CLABSI. Our study confirmed that PICC was a superior alternative to CICC in preventing CLABSI in the adult hematology unit, while it posed a microbiological shift in local epidemiology.

Clinicopathological analysis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma lacking surface immunoglobulin light chain restriction on flow cytometry.

Although diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) occasionally lacks surface immunoglobulin light chain restriction (iLCR) on flow cytometry (FCM), little evidence is available for iLCR-negative DLBCL. We retrospectively compared clinicopathological features of iLCR-positive and iLCR-negative DLBCL diagnosed at our institute between April 2007 and March 2018. iLCR-positive was defined as a κ/λ ratio less than 0.5 or greater than 3 in the gated population on dual-color FCM, and iLCR-negative as other values. Of 81 DLBCL cases with available immunophenotyping by FCM, 63 iLCR-positive DLBCL (78%) and 18 iLCR-negative DLBCL (22%) cases were identified. Survival outcomes of patients with iLCR-negative DLBCL were comparable with those of patients with iLCR-positive DLBCL. Pathological analysis revealed no significant difference except for the lower expression of BCL6 in iLCR-negative DLBCL (12.5% vs 65.5%, p < 0.001), although there was a slightly higher frequency of necrosis (47.1% vs 20.7%, p = 0.058) and lower expression of CD10 (11.8% vs 35.0%, p = 0.078) in iLCR-negative DLBCL than in iLCR-positive DLBCL. The underlying mechanism remains unclear; however, low expression of germinal center markers and tumor necrosis may be associated with the loss of iLCR in DLBCL.

Severe cryoglobulinemia with cerebral infarction successfully treated with steroid and rituximab: A case report.

We report the case of severe cryoglobulinemia with cerebral infarction and ischemic cardiac disease successfully treated with steroid and rituximab.

Diagnosis of a difficult to differentiate case of early-onset hyperviscosity syndrome caused by IgM type multiple myeloma: a case report.

Hyperviscosity syndrome (HVS) can cause multiple organ damage if not treated immediately. IgM multiple myeloma (IgM MM) is a very rare form of myeloma with clinical features such as elevated serum IgM, and anemia, that resemble Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM). Distinguishing between these two diseases is important, but can be a challenging problem. It is well known that MyD88 mutations and t(11;14) translocations are useful for differential diagnosis. We diagnosed HVS in a 29-year-old male with IgM MM. He was treated with triplet therapy, autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and carfilzomib consolidation therapy. His clinical course was monitored by serum IgM levels, and bone marrow myeloma cell counts by multiparameter flow cytometry analysis. After this series of treatments, his HSV disappeared and he reached stringent complete response. In cases of early onset of HVS, IgM MM should be considered in addition to WM.

Clinical impact of endoscopy position detecting unit (UPD-3) for a non-sedated colonoscopy.

AIM: To evaluate whether an endoscopy position detecting unit (UPD-3) can improve cecal intubation rates, cecal intubation times and visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores, regardless of the colonoscopist's level of experience. METHODS: A total of 260 patients (170 men and 90 women) who underwent a colonoscopy were divided into the UPD-3-guided group or the conventional group (no UPD-3 guidance). Colonoscopies were performed by experts (experience of more than 1000 colonoscopies) or trainees (experience of less than 100 colonoscopies). Cecal intubation rates, cecal intubation times, insertion methods (straight insertion: shortening the colonic fold through the bending technique; roping insertion: right turn shortening technique) and patient discomfort were assessed. Patient discomfort during the endoscope insertion was scored by the VAS that was divided into 6 degrees of pain. RESULTS: The cecum intubation rates, cecal intubation times, number of cecal intubations that were performed in < 15 min and insertion methods were not significantly different between the conventional group and the UPD-3-guided group. The number of patients who experienced pain during the insertion was markedly less in the UPD-3-guided group than in the conventional group. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that the following factors were associated with lower VAS pain scores during endoscope insertion: insertion method (straight insertion) and UPD-3 guidance in the trainee group. For the experts group, univariate analysis showed that only the insertion method (straight insertion) was associated with lower VAS pain scores. CONCLUSION: Although UPD-3 guidance did not shorten intubation times, it resulted in less patient pain during endoscope insertion compared with conventional endoscopy for the procedures performed by trainees.