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Introduction: February 2022's wholesale Russian invasion of Ukraine strongly impaired the availability of hematological treatments including hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) during the first months. Many activities were initiated by Ukrainian physicians with the support of the international community. Ukrainian refugees received almost unlimited access to treatment in some EU countries, such as Poland. Material and methods: Activities of the 'Help for Ukrainian Hematology Patients' (HUP) initiative are described in this article. Information on HCT and cell therapy in refugee patients in Polish transplant centers was collected by questionnaire between 24 February 2022 and 24 February 2023. Results: Data on 65 patients was available: 22 males and 43 females, with a median age of 35 years. The most frequent diagnoses were Hodgkin's lymphoma (20 patients) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (17 patients). Allo-HCT was performed in 24 patients, auto-HCT in 36 patients and CAR-T-cells in five patients. Fourteen patients (21.5%) received treatment that was unavailable in Ukraine. The major challenges included social and language issues. Conclusions: The number of initiatives of Ukrainian physicians and HUP led to a significant increase in the number of HCT procedures in Ukraine after the initial drop-down. The almost unlimited access to healthcare in some EU countries has allowed refugees to get treatment that is unavailable in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a reflection on the experiences of Hungary and Poland in the face of the migration crisis. Its aim is to present the measures taken by the Hungarian government in 2015 and by the Polish government in 2021 when both countries were confronted with a particular threat related to the mass influx of illegal immigrants and the forcing of their borders. The response to the specific threat became the use of a special legal regime, Hungary introduced a state of crisis due to mass migration at the Hungarian-Serbian border, while Poland had a state of emergency along the Polish-Belarusian border. In this context, it was hypothesised that the decision to impose a special legal regime in Poland and Hungary was justified in the context of the specific threat that the migration crisis had become and the possibility to take quick action and respond adequately. In both cases, a decision was made to build a border wall to keep out illegal immigrants, so one can see some analogies in the actions of the Polish and Hungarian authorities, as well as their anti-immigration rhetoric. The comparative method, the normative approach and the discourse method were applied in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Letermovir (LMV) is a new, cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific, antiviral drug, approved in 2018 for CMV prophylaxis in patients after allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation. The introduction of letermovir prophylaxis has changed the management of CMV infection: it has reduced the incidence of CMV infections and CMV-related complications, and also improved the overall survival in CMV seropositive patients. However, until recently, due to its high treatment cost, prophylaxis with letermovir has not beeen a standard of care in Poland. Material and methods: To confirm the effectiveness and safety of letermovir prophylaxis, we collected real-life data from eight Polish transplant centers, in which a total of 53 patients were treated with letermovir, including off-label use. Results: LMV is characterized by low toxicity and good tolerability. There were no reports of special adverse events caused by LMV. Conclusions: Our experiences confirm the effectiveness and safety of letermovir prophylaxis, and suggest that this prophylaxis should be started as soon as possible after the infusion of stem cells, preferably no later than day 14. Moreover, our findings indicate that some patients could benefit from extended letermovir prophylaxis beyond 100 days after transplant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimal residual disease (MRD) status is now considered as one of the most relevant prognostic factors in multiple myeloma (MM) while MRD negativity became an important endpoint in clinical trials. Here, we report the results of the first study evaluating the reproducibility of high-sensitivity flow cytometry MM MRD assessment in four laboratories in Poland. EuroFlow protocols for instrument setting standardization and sample preparation in MM MRD assessment were implemented in each laboratory. In the inter-laboratory reproducibility study, 12 bone marrow samples from MM patients were distributed and processed in participant laboratories. In the inter-operator concordance study, 13 raw data files from MM MRD measurements were analyzed by five independent operators. The inter-laboratory study showed high 95% overall concordance of results among laboratories. In the inter-operator study, 89% of MRD results reported were concordant, and the highest immunophenotype interpretation differences with regard to expression of CD27, CD45, CD81 were noticed. We confirmed the applicability and feasibility of the EuroFlow protocol as a highly sensitive method of MRD evaluation in MM. Results of our inter-center comparison study demonstrate that the standardization of MM MRD assessment protocols is highly desirable to improve quality and comparability of results within and between different clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) has a favorable prognosis. However, results of randomized studies do not necessarily reflect the outcomes of a real-life population., Patients and Methods: We analyzed 283 unselected APL patients treated in 20 Polish hospitals between 2005 and 2017. All patients were intended to be treated with PETHEMA (Programa Español para el Tratamiento de las Hemopatías Malignas) protocols based on all-trans retinoic acid plus chemotherapy., Results: The probability of overall survival at 4 years was 67%, while event-free survival was 64%. The early death (ED) rate was 20.1% (n = 57), while 3.5% (n = 10) patients died before induction therapy was started. The main causes of ED included hemorrhage (45.6%), infections (17.5%), and differentiation syndrome (14.5%). Of 273 treated patients, 214 (78.4%) experienced hematologic morphologic remission, 2 (0.7%) were found to have resistant disease, 47 (17.2%) could not be evaluated for response because of ED, and in 6 (3.7%) no data concerning the response were available. Multivariate analyses showed that predictors of ED and overall survival were Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status > 2, age > 60 years, and all types of bleeding episodes that occurred before starting therapy, while an additional predictor of event-free survival was high white blood cell count (> 10 10 9 /L)., Conclusion: ED remains a major problem in APL patients, especially in a real-life population. Shortening of the time between the initial contact with a health care professional, and all-trans retinoic acid administration and the use of appropriate supportive care could improve the outcome of unselected APL population, mainly by reducing the ED rate., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)