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Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cryotherapy on the prevention of oral mucositis (OM) and on the oral pH value in patients with multiple myeloma undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation., Data Sources: This nonrandomized controlled clinical trial was carried out in Bone Marrow Transplant Centers of three hospitals with total 32 patients. In addition to standard oral care, a total of 80 minutes of cryotherapy was applied to the experimental group. OM was assessed according to the World Health Organization's Oral Toxicity Scale before chemotherapy and for 21 days after chemotherapy (every day in the first 14 days, then every other day until the 21st day [if not discharged])., Conclusion: According to the findings, cryotherapy did not change the incidence of oral OM, and neither affected the severity of nor decreased the duration of it. Oral pH value was found to be significantly different between the patient groups only before and 1 day after chemotherapy., Implications for Nursing Practice: Cryotherapy is an inexpensive, easy-to-use method with no side effects; it would be beneficial to continue cryotherapy to prevent the development of OM in patients with cancer receiving drugs with a short half-life such as melphalan. It is also recommended to conduct further studies with different chemotherapy drugs with short half-lives to determine its effect on the prevention of OM development., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) is a routinely used procedure in the treatment of adult patients presenting with multiple myeloma (MM), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and various subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in upfront and relapsed/refractory settings. Successful hematopoietic progenitor cell mobilization (HPCM) and collection are the rate limiting first steps for application of AHCT. In 2015, almost 1700 AHCT procedures have been performed for MM, HL and NHL in Turkey. Although there are recently published consensus guidelines addressing critical issues regarding autologous HPCM, there is a tremendous heterogeneity in terms of mobilization strategies of transplant centers across the world. In order to pave the way to a more standardized HPCM approach in Turkey, Turkish Society of Apheresis (TSA) assembled a working group consisting of experts in the field. Here we report the position statement of TSA regarding autologous HPCM mobilization strategies in adult patients presenting with MM and lymphoma., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) is an established treatment option for adult patients presenting with multiple myeloma (MM), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and various subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in upfront and/or relapsed/refractory disease settings. Although there are recently published consensus guidelines addressing critical issues regarding autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell mobilization (HPCM), mobilization strategies of transplant centers show high variability in terms of routine practice. In order to understand the current institutional policies regarding HPCM in Turkey and to obtain the required basic data for preparation of a national positional statement on this issue, Turkish Hematology Research and Education Group (ThREG) conducted a web-based HPCM survey. The survey was designed to include multiple-choice questions regarding institutional practice of HPCM in adults presenting MM, HL, and NHL. The representatives of 27 adult HCT centers participated to the study. Here we report the results of this survey shedding light on the real-world experience in Turkey in terms of autologous HPCM mobilization strategies in patients presenting with MM and lymphoma., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This is the last of a series of articles on invasive fungal infections prepared by opinion leaders in Turkey. The aim of these articles is to guide clinicians in managing invasive fungal diseases in hematological malignancies and stem cell transplantation based on the available best evidence in this field. The previous articles summarized the diagnosis and treatment of invasive fungal disease and this article aims to explain the risk categorization and guide the antifungal prophylaxis in invasive fungal disease.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine Factor V G1691A (Leiden) (FVL) and prothrombin G20210A (PT) gene mutation status, and their relationship with thrombosis in patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorders (CMPDs)., Methods: The study included 160 patients with a CMPD that were regularly followed-up between 1993 and 2009. FVL and PT mutation status was established based on blood samples analyzed via PCR using specific primers., Results: The frequency of FVL and PT mutation was 12.5% and 4.4%, respectively. In total, 27 episodes of thrombosis occurred in 24 (15%) of the patients, and there wasn't an association between the observed thrombotic events, and FVL or PT mutations. Hepatic vein thrombosis was noted in 3 patients that had FVL mutation, of which 1 also had PT mutation., Conclusion: We did not observe a relationship between thrombosis, and FVL or PT mutations in CMPD patients; however, 3 of the patients that had hepatic vein thrombosis also had FVL mutation. Larger studies are needed to more clearly determine if all CMPD patients with hepatic vein thrombosis need be investigated for FVL and PT mutation.

Objective: Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of bone is a rare entity. The most common histological subtype is diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The major presenting symptoms are soft tissue swelling, bone pain and pathological fracture. Treatment options are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, or a combination of these modalities., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the 18 patients (11 females, 7 males) with NHL of bone who were diagnosed and treated between 1995-2005. The median age was 56.5 years. The median duration of symptoms was 4.5 months. The bone pain was the first symptom in all patients. Tru-cut biopsy was performed for diagnosis in most of the cases. Diagnosis in five patients (27.8%) required open biopsy., Results: DLBCL (77.8%) was the most common histological type among all patients. Other histological subtypes were anaplastic large cell lymphoma (11.1%), Burkitt-like lymphoma (5.6%) and marginal zone lymphoma (5.6%). According to Ann Arbor staging system, 44.4% of patients were Stage I, 11.1% were Stage II and 44.4% were Stage IV. Bone marrow involvement was determined in four patients (22.2%). All patients except one were treated with anthracycline-containing regimens and eight patients (44.4%) received rituximab combination with chemotherapy. Radiation therapy was performed as the first-line therapy in 9 (50%) patients. The median follow-up was 37 months (range, 2-124 months). Among the 17 patients who achieved complete remission, five (27.8%) relapsed. All patients were still alive. The five-year relapse-free survival was 73.5%., Conclusion: The treatment of bone lymphoma can be planned according to the stage and location of the disease. Although we had a relatively low number of patients, it could be concluded that whether or not radiation therapy is performed, rituximab in combination with systemic chemotherapy has been proven beneficial on survival.

Extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is a distinct lymphoma with specific clinical and pathological features that occurs in diverse anatomic locations. We conducted this retrospective study to demonstrate our experience in patients with MALT lymphomas and compare our results with the literature. We studied 23 patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of MALT lymphomas (12 with gastric, 11 with non-gastric localization) treated during the past 13 years. The female/male ratio of patients was 15/8 with a median age at presentation of 56 years (range 27-88 years). 16 patients (70%) with stage I and II, 7 patients (30%) with stage III and IV were admitted. At presentation 93% of patients had good performance status (ECOG<2) and 5 (22%) had B-symptoms. There was no difference between gastric and non-gastric MALT lymphomas when compared with sex, age, ECOG performance status, stage of the disease. Patients were treated with different treatment modality; H. Pylori eradication only (8.6%), radiotherapy only (21.7%), surgery alone (4.%) or followed by radiotherapy (26%) or chemotherapy (21.7%). All the patients are alive with a median 33 months (range 8-153 months) of follow-up and the 5- year PFS in gastric lymphoma and non-gastric lymphoma were 86% and 84% respectively with no statistical difference (p=0.5). Because of the indolent course the prognosis of MALT lymphoma was good regardless of the treatment modalities. The treatment choice should be patient-tailored, taking into account the site, stage, age and other clinical characteristic of patient.

The t (2;5) (p23; q35) translocation associated with CD30-positive anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) creates a hybrid gene encoding the chimeric nucleolar protein nucleophosmin-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (NFMALK) protein, which can be demonstrated by immunostaining with ALK1 monoclonal antibody. In this study, 40 specimens of ALCL from 6 pediatric, 34 adult patients, were immunostained with monoclonal antibodies against CD30 (Ber-H2), EMA, CD45 (LCA), CD3, CD20 (L26), CD15, and ALK1 antigens, and results were correlated with histopathologic features. The mean age of the pediatric and adult patients was 10-years and 38-years, respectively. ALK1 was positive in 14 cases (35%) representing 83% of pediatric and 26% of adult patients, statistically significantly higher in the pediatric group (p= 0.01). Considering the better prognosis attributed to cases with t (2;5), it is interesting to note that the percentage of ALK1-positive cases is significantly higher in pediatric patients with coexpression of EMA, compared to adults.

In this study the effect of low dose long-term maintenance chemotherapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was evaluated. Following a complete remission two consolidation courses were given with the same drugs. Thereafter patients received low dose maintenance chemotherapy in every four weeks until disease relapsed or for up to two years. A total of 68 patients were evaluated. The median duration of remission of 22.5 months in patients who received maintenance chemotherapy while it was only 7 months in those without maintenance chemotherapy after a median follow-up time of 71 months, which was significant. Overall survival (OS) was also significantly longer in patients with maintenance therapy. Similar results were also obtained in comparison of patients over 60. Thus, it was concluded that maintenance therapy might be beneficial for older AML patients with limited therapy choice.

POEMS syndrome (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M-protein and skin changes) is a rare disease and constitues 1-2% of plasma cell dyscrasia. Most of the patients have few sclerotic bone lesions and more than 90% of patients have serum and/or urinary M-protein. In this report, we present a patient with POEMS syndrome who had severe polyneuropathy and unusual widespread osteosclerotic lesions without M- rotein in serum and urine. According to our knowledge, this is the first case of asecretory POEMS syndrome with multipl sclerotic lesions and polyneuropathy. Our patient is still well and able to work actively 4 years after diagnosis with the treatment of 12 courses of VAD by reducing the vincristine dosage.

We investigated activated protein C resistance (aPCR) using modified activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) in 32 patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and 9 healthy controls. None of the healthy controls were found to have aPCR. However, 11 out of 32 Behçet's patients (34.3%) were found to have aPCR. The frequency of aPCR was increased to 44.4% among 18 Behçet's patients having a history of venous thrombosis. In the subgroup of 14 patients without venous thrombosis, aPCR frequency was %22.2. Our findings show that, besides other factors, aPCR may also predispose patients to venous thrombosis in BD. The detection of aPCR, using modified aPTT may serve as a routine screening test to determine the necessity of prophylactic anticoagulation reatment in patients with BD.