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The authors report a rare case of leiomyomatosis of the lung diagnosed in a 43-year-old woman, with uterine intravenous leiomyomatosis. Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is an extremely rare lesion characterized by usually multiple, benign-appearing smooth muscle tumors of the lung in females with coexisting uterine leiomyoma. On the basis of their histological and immunohistological features, a unified histogenetic view of leiomyomas with vascular invasion (LWVI) and BML of the uterus is proposed. LWVI and BML may be the same pathological entity and microscopic vascular invasion may represent the metastatic mechanism of BML. LWVI seems to be the precursor of BML.

A retrospective study was performed to explore the effect of splenectomy on iron balance in thalassemia major (TM).Twenty two TM patients treated with splenectomy were compared with a control group (non-splenectomized patients) matched for sex, age, pretransfusional Hb, chelation therapy, and duration of follow-up in a retrospective study to evaluate blood consumption, iron intake, and serum ferritin during an overall observation period of 6 yrs before and 10 yrs after splenectomy.Splenectomy improved parameters of iron balance, determining a significant reduction in blood consumption (P 0.01), iron intake (P 0.01), and serum ferritin (P 0.01). Comparing the two groups, blood consumption and iron intake were similar in presplenectomy period (P 0.05), but serum ferritin was significantly higher in splenectomized patients (P 0.01). After splenectomy, blood consumption and iron intake were significantly lower (P 0.01) in splenectomized group while serum ferritin did not differ significantly (P 0.05) between two groups, except for the first year (P 0.05).Splenectomy determines immediate drop in blood consumption and iron intake but slow downtrend of ferritin; direct measurements of iron overload, such as magnetic resonance studies, are needed to better understand the effect of splenectomy on iron balance parameters. Tailoring chelation therapy and eventually its intensification seem more efficient measures to manage iron accumulation in TM and to lower iron level to safety threshold.

Objective: To identify possible sonographic prenatal parameters and postnatal parameters in order to obtain more bankable cord blood units (CBUs) containing a high number of primitive progenitor cells, allowing CBUs to be used as a source of haematopoietic progenitors for clinical transplantation. Study design: Prospective study undertaken in the Department of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Reproductive Science, Second University of Naples, Italy. In total, 219 unrelated CBU donors were enrolled. Ultrasound parameters (biparietal diameter, head circumference, abdominal circumference, femur length, estimation of fetal weight, umbilical artery pulsatility index), collected at hospital admission, together with birth weight and placental weight, were correlated with bankable CBU parameters (CBU volume, total nucleated cell count, CD34+ cell count). Results: Femur length and abdominal circumference correlated positively with bankable CBUs. Receiver operating curve analysis showed that these parameters can identify bankable CBUs. Conclusions: This is the first prospective study to show the relationship between ultrasonographic fetal parameters at term and the possibility of obtaining high-quality CBUs. As such, cord blood banking could be improved worldwide by performing low-cost ultrasonographic scans. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.