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Purpose of review Immunocompromised patients are notably vulnerable to severe coronavirus disease 2019. This review summarizes COVID-19 features and outcomes in autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients. Recent findings Recent findings suggest that HSCT recipients exhibit a high burden of comorbidities and COVID-19 clinical features almost similar to the general COVID population. Furthermore, HSCT recipients exhibit a protracted SARS-CoV-2 shedding, prolonging duration of symptoms and promoting the generation of highly mutated viruses. Last, most of studies report a higher COVID-19 mortality in HSCT recipients, mainly driven by age, comorbidities, time from transplantation, and immunosuppression because of both treatments and underlying hematological malignancy. Summary Further studies are warranted to determine the proper impact of HSCT-related immune disorders on COVID-19 outcomes, and to evaluate specific treatments and vaccination strategy in this high-risk population. Taken together, those findings emphasize the need for more rigorous surveillance and preemptive measures for all HSCT recipients.

Although invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is typically described in immunocompromised host, patient with severe influenzae can develop IPA. Similarly, patients with severe COVID-19 complicated with IPA are increasingly reported. Here, we describe a case of invasive aspergillosis with triazole-resistant A. fumigatus (TR34/L98H mutation) in a 56-year-old patient with COVID-19 in intensive care unit. This report highlights the need to define the available tools for diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in severe COVID-19 patients., Highlights • Association between COVID-19 and invasive aspergillosis. • Early screening for aspergillosis should be performed in respiratory specimen. • This case emphasizes the need to screen isolates for pan-azole resistance.

Background The aim of this study is to determine whether severe COVID-19 patients harbour a higher risk of ICU-acquired pneumonia. Methods This retrospective multicentre cohort study comprised all consecutive patients admitted to seven ICUs for severe COVID-19 pneumonia during the first COVID-19 surge in France. Inclusion criteria were laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and requirement for invasive mechanical ventilation for 48 h or more. Control groups were two historical cohorts of mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the ICU for bacterial or non-SARS-CoV-2 viral pneumonia. The outcome of interest was the development of ICU-acquired pneumonia. The determinants of ICU-acquired pneumonia were investigated in a multivariate competing risk analysis. Result One hundred and seventy-six patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia admitted to the ICU between March 1st and 30th June of 2020 were included into the study. Historical control groups comprised 435 patients with bacterial pneumonia and 48 ones with viral pneumonia. ICU-acquired pneumonia occurred in 52% of COVID-19 patients, whereas in 26% and 23% of patients with bacterial or viral pneumonia, respectively (p p = 0.011). Conclusion COVID-19 appears an independent risk factor of ICU-acquired pneumonia in mechanically ventilated patients with pneumonia. Whether this is driven by immunomodulatory properties by the SARS-CoV-2 or this is related to particular processes of care remains to be investigated.

The objective is to identify the risk markers of multi-drug resistant bacteria (MDRB) related ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in septic shock patients with previous MDRB carriage.This retrospective study was conducted in a medical ICU from 2010 to 2020. Consecutive patients with septic shock and still in the ICU after 48 h, were eligible. The following microorganisms were defined as MDRB: extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing enterobacteriaceae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Screening for MDRB colonization was performed at ICU admission and during ICU stay. The determinants of MDRB-related VAP were assessed using a time-dependent cause-specific Cox model.643 patients were analyzed and 122 (18.9%) had at least one episode of VAP. The overall ICU mortality was 32.5%. The incidence of MDRB carriage was 31%, distributed into MDRB carriage at admission (14.3%) and MDRB acquired during ICU stay (16.7%). In multivariate analysis, MDRB colonization in ICU was independently associated with an increased risk of VAP (CSH: 1.85; 95% CI: 1.05-3.23; p = 0.03) whereas carriage prior to admission was not.Imported and acquired MDRB carriage harbor different risks of subsequent MDRB-related VAP in patients with septic shock.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is curative in myelofibrosis, and current prognostic scoring systems aim to select patients for transplantation. Here, we aimed to develop a prognostic score to determine prognosis after transplantation itself, using clinical, molecular, and transplant-specific information from a total of 361 patients with myelofibrosis. Of these, 205 patients were used as a training cohort to create a clinical-molecular myelofibrosis transplant scoring system (MTSS), which was then externally validated in a cohort of 156 patients. Multivariable analysis on survival identified age at least 57 years, Karnofsky performance status lower than 90%, platelet count lower than 150 × 109/L, leukocyte count higher than 25 × 109/L before transplantation, HLA-mismatched unrelated donor, ASXL1 mutation, and non-CALR/MPL driver mutation genotype being independent predictors of outcome. The uncorrected concordance index for the final survival model was 0.723, and bias-corrected indices were similar. Risk factors were incorporated into a 4-level MTSS: low (score, 0-2), intermediate (score, 3-4), high (score, 5), and very high (score, >5). The 5-year survival according to risk groups in the validation cohort was 83% (95% confidence interval [CI], 71%-95%), 64% (95% CI, 53%-75%), 37% (95% CI, 17%-57%), and 22% (95% CI, 4%-39%), respectively (P < .001). Increasing score was predictive of nonrelapse mortality (P < .001) and remained applicable to primary (0.718) and post-essential thrombocythemia (ET)/polycythemia vera (PV) myelofibrosis (0.701) improving prognostic ability in comparison with all currently available disease-specific systems. In conclusion, this MTSS predicts outcome of patients with primary and post-ET/PV myelofibrosis undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Background Previous studies reporting the causes of death in patients with severe COVID-19 have provided conflicting results. The objective of this study was to describe the causes and timing of death in patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods We performed a retrospective study in eight ICUs across seven French hospitals. All consecutive adult patients (aged ≥ 18 years) admitted to the ICU with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and acute respiratory failure were included in the analysis. The causes and timing of ICU deaths were reported based on medical records. Results From March 1, 2020, to April 28, 287 patients were admitted to the ICU for SARS-CoV-2 related acute respiratory failure. Among them, 93 patients died in the ICU (32%). COVID-19-related multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) was the leading cause of death (37%). Secondary infection-related MODS accounted for 26% of ICU deaths, with a majority of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Refractory hypoxemia/pulmonary fibrosis was responsible for death in 19% of the cases. Fatal ischemic events (venous or arterial) occurred in 13% of the cases. The median time from ICU admission to death was 15 days (25th–75th IQR, 7–27 days). COVID-19-related MODS had a median time from ICU admission to death of 14 days (25th–75th IQR: 7–19 days), while only one death had occurred during the first 3 days since ICU admission. Conclusions In our multicenter observational study, COVID-19-related MODS and secondary infections were the two leading causes of death, among severe COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU.

Burkitt lymphoma, a diagnostic emergency. Burkitt lymphoma is a highly aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This is the first human tumor where a chromosomal translocation that activates an oncogene (c-myc) has been described. The diagnosis and initiation of therapy is an emergency. The main lymphoma localizations are the digestive tract, the central nervous system and the bone marrow in the sporadic form observed in Western countries. Tumor lysis syndrome can be present even before therapy and can necessitate rapid chemotherapy in intensive care unit. Dose-dense chemotherapy regimens, implemented during the last 25 years can cure the majority of patients, especially children, but remains associated with a high toxicity. The adjunction of rituximab to chemotherapy is still investigated in high-risk groups in children and is now part of the treatment in adults.Lymphome de burkitt, une urgence diagnostique. Le lymphome de Burkitt est une des entités les plus agressives de lymphome et la tumeur maligne de l’homme où a été identifié le premier oncogène (c-myc) grâce à l’existence d’une translocation chromosomique responsable de son activation. Son traitement est une urgence vu son taux très élevé de prolifération. Les localisations préférentielles de la maladie, dans la forme sporadique des pays occidentaux, sont le tube digestif, la moelle hématopoïétique et le système nerveux central. Un syndrome de lyse peut être présent avant tout traitement imposant une prise en charge en soins intensifs et l’initiation rapide d’une chimiothérapie. Les chimiothérapies délivrées à doses élevées et à un rythme dense élaborées durant les 25 dernières années permettent d’obtenir une guérison dans la plupart des cas au prix d’une toxicité hématologique importante. L’utilisation du rituximab en association à la chimiothérapie est évaluée en pédiatrie dans les formes graves de la maladie et fait maintenant partie du traitement chez l’adulte.

The cure of hematologic disorders by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is often associated with major complications resulting in poor outcome, including acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), relapse and death. Classical endpoints such as overall survival (OS), desease free survival (DFS) and non relapse-mortality (NRM) had become more and more unsuitable for transplant research because of their inability to a dynamic mesure of transplant-associated comorbidity. For this reason several composite endpoints taking into account also GVHD-associated comorbidity were proposed in the last years. GVHD free/relapse free survival (GRFS), proposed by Holtan et al (Blood 2015), includes grades 3-4 acute GVHD, systemic therapy requiring chronic GVHD, primary disease relapse , or death for any cause considered as events. This endpoint seems to completely characterize the survival without mortality or ongoing morbidity. With the intent to analyse the outcomes of our transplanted cohort, we retrospectively analysed GRFS of 959 consecutive patients receiving HSCT at Federico II University in Naples (n=119) and Saint-Louis Hospital (n=840) in Paris between 2007 and 2014, identifying prognostic factors associated with a better outcome and estimating the incidences of all components of this endpoint: rates of acute and chronic GVHD, disease relapse and death. Patient, disease and transplant characteristics are listed in table 1. Median duration of follow-up after HSCT was 22.1 months (IQR: 5.6-51 months). Cumulative incidence at day 100 of grade II-IV acute GVHD and grade III-IV were 42% and 16%, respectively. Cumulative incidence of chronic GVHD requiring systemic treatment at 1 and 5 years was 23% and 33%, respectively, diagnosed according to NIH criteria [14% of patients had score 1 (mild), 58% score 2 (moderate) and 27% score 3 (severe)cGVHD]. Cumulative incidence of relapse (considering all malignant and non-malignant diseases) was 26.7% (N=219) at 5 years. Overall survival for the whole population was 57% (95%CI, 53.3-60.8) at 5 years and Disease free survival (DFS) and non-relapse mortality (NRM) were respectively 50% (95%CI, 46.6-53.8) and 23% at 5 years. GRFS was 25% (95%CI, 21.8-28.5) at 5 years. Factors identified as influencing GRFS based on univariate analyses were age higher than 45 years (HR=1.64, 95%CI, 1.40-1.92), bone marrow (BM) as stem cell source (HR=0.40, 95%CI, 0.32-0.50); reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) (HR=0.63, 95%CI, 0.53-0.74); disease type [non-malignant disorders: HR=0.24, 95%CI, 0.17-0.33; myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative syndromes (MPN/CML/MDS): HR=1.34, 95%CI, 1.10-1.63; whereas other diagnosis did not influence GRFS] and than unrelated donor (matched: HR=1.71, 95%CI, 1.41-2.07;mismatch:HR=1.81, 95%CI, 1.48-2.23). Based on a multivariable Cox model, only diagnoses (non-malignancies, HR=0.27, 95%CI, 0.19-0.38 and MPN/CML/MDS, HR= 1.35, 95%CI, 1.11-1.65), and HLA unrelated graft (matched, HR=1.42, 95%CI, 1.17-1.73 and mismatched, HR=1.55, 95%CI, 1.26-1.92) remained associated with the outcome (Figure 1 and 2). GRFS could represent the ideal endpoint following HSCT. It differs significantly based upon type of disease and donor type, essentially. This composite indicator yields more information regarding complications of HSCT than the simpler measurement of OS or DFS. Its use willbetter compare these clinically important outcomes that accompany disparate HSCT techniques. All examined prognostic factors could enhance our ability to optimally judge the risk and the probability of true recovery after allogeneic HSCT. Our data support the use of this composite endpoint to describe HSCT outcome, and also pave the way for the investigation of novel endpoints, which may also track the dynamic changes of post-transplant events in the long-term. These retrospective data represent the background to investigate the impact of novel strategies of HSCT aiming to improve the outcome of HSCT, as detectable, by using more sensitive endpoints, tracking clinical events associated with detrimental long-term outcome. Figure 1 Figure 1. Figure 2 Figure 2. Disclosures Risitano: Alexion Pharmaceuticals: Other: lecture fees, Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Alnylam: Research Funding; Rapharma: Research Funding. Peffault de Latour:Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Alexion: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding.