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Objectives: Melioidosis is associated with extremely high case fatality ratios. The aim of this study was to determine whether detection of abdominal visceral abscesses can facilitate diagnosis of melioidosis in children., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all children who had liver and/or spleen abscesses on abdominal ultrasonography admitted to Bintulu Hospital in Sarawak, Malaysia, from January 2014 until December 2018., Results: Fifty-three children had liver and/or spleen abscesses. Spleen abscesses were present in 48 (91%) cases; liver abscesses in 15 (28%). Melioidosis was confirmed by culture in 9 (17%) children; small occult splenic abscesses were present in all cases. In 78% of these cases, the lesions were detected before any positive culture (or serology) results were available. Four (8%) children had bacteriologically-confirmed tuberculosis. Two (4%) had Staphylococcus aureus infection. Of the remaining 38 (72%) culture-negative cases, 36 (95%) had clinical and imaging characteristics similar to that of children with culture-confirmed melioidosis and improved with empirical melioidosis antibiotic therapy., Conclusions: A large number of children in Bintulu Hospital in Sarawak, Malaysia, were found to have spleen abscesses. Melioidosis was the most common etiology identified in these children. Abdominal ultrasonography is extremely useful in facilitating the diagnosis of pediatric melioidosis., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

From January 2005 to January 2010, 668 consecutive patients with lymphoproliferative disease were retrospectively identified. Hepatic infiltration was present at initial staging in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [12 of 364=3.3%; age median=45; male:female (M:F)=10:2] but also Hodgkin's disease (5 of 41=12.2%; age median=19; M:F=0:5) and multiple myeloma (3 of 162=1.8%; age median=60; M:F=2:1). There were no cases of hepatic infiltration in 101 patients with leukemia. There are typical radiological patterns of hepatic involvement in lymphoproliferative disease with typical lesions characteristics., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We report a retrospective study of 24 patients with haematological malignancy and hepatosplenic candidiasis. Clinical and biological features were similar to previous reports. No patient previously received antifungal prophylaxis. Liver or spleen histological examination revealed yeasts in 6/24 patients (25%) on direct examination but all cultures were negative. After a median duration of 7 months, antifungal treatment was discontinued in 58% of the patients with no relapse. Eleven (46%) patients died during follow up. After multivariate analysis, independent factors associated with death were the duration of neutropenia (p 0.022) and relapsing haematological malignancy (p 0.015)., (© 2012 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. No claim to original US government works.)

Aim of Study: The authors wanted to analyze the epidemiological features of extrapulmonary hydatid cysts and compare their results with those reported in literature., Methods: Two hundred and sixty-five cases of extrapulmonary hydatid cysts collected from 1990 to 2007 were retrospectively studied., Results: One hundred and one male and 164 female patients (sex ratio M/F=0.61 mean age 38.7 years) were included. In our series, hydatid cysts involved mainly the kidney (24.1%), the central nervous system (22.6%), the liver (19.6%) and the spleen (11.3%)., Conclusion: Contrary to published data, our results show that hydatid cysts of the kidney and of the central nervous system are more frequent than hepatic location which ranks 3rd. Such unusual results may be due to a selection bias.

The present study was performed as a retrospective analysis of the role of pretransplant splenectomy to determine the incidence of late bacterial infections, acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), relapse, and survival among 358 patients receiving HLA-identical marrow grafts for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Sixty-eight (19%) of the 358 patients had undergone splenectomy before transplantation. There was a trend towards more grade II-IV acute GVHD among splenectomized patients, but this was not significant in the multivariate analysis. The incidence of chronic GVHD was similar for splenectomized and nonsplenectomized patients. Late infectious complications did not significantly differ between splenectomized and control patients (rates per patient year were 0.16 and 0.14, respectively). The overall risk of leukemic relapse was significantly increased for splenectomized patients (56% v 32% for controls, P = .001) and control patients with splenomegaly (P < .0001). Splenectomy and splenomegaly remained significant and independent hazards for relapse in the multivariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.82, P = .029; and HR, 1.49, P = .002; respectively). Relapse was also increased in patients with advanced disease (HR, 2.95; P = .0001), in patients with T-cell-depleted marrow (HR, 4.51; P = .0001), and in the female donor and male recipient combination (HR, 1.74; P = .044). Patients with splenectomy had an increased overall mortality (HR, 1.18), but this was not statistically significant in the multivariate analysis. In summary, our study showed no significant influence of splenectomy on late posttransplant infections, acute or chronic GVHD, or overall survival. There was no evidence that splenectomy decreased recurrence of chronic myelogenous leukemia.

A total of 380 ewes of different age groups were inspected for spleen hydatidosis during the summer of 1985. Of these, 7.6% had cysts in the spleen. There was an increase in the prevalence of the disease with increasing age of the animal, reaching 11.8% in greater than or equal to 8-year-old ewes. Out of all the animals with spleen hydatidosis, 61.5% were found to have fertile cysts and, when classified, 46.7% were found to be fertile with a mean total number of protoscolices of 13.4 x 10(3) per cyst. The majority of the protoscolices were found to be viable (74%). Spleen hydatidosis which is mainly solitary seems to be secondary to the involvement of the liver or the liver and lung simultaneously. The importance of these aspects of spleen hydatidosis are discussed.