23 March 2021 (Tuesday) - UKAS Update

 

The UKAS sent their newsletter today. You can read it by clicking here. I did…  I was thinking of writing something witty and sarcastic but UKAS newsletters really are the way forward… for all that I honestly wish they weren’t.

19 March 2021 (Friday) - ASH Update

The ASH sent their spotlight on chronic leukaemias today. Perhaps all a bit too clinical for me, but all useful stuff:

Durable Efficacy With LOXO-305 in Heavily Pretreated CLL/SLL LOXO-305 was associated with promising response and efficacy rates in patients with poor-prognosis chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, according to findings presented at the 2020 ASH Annual Meeting.

Asciminib Receives Breakthrough Therapy Designation for CML The FDA’s decision is based on data from the phase III ASCEMBL trial evaluating asciminib for the treatment of patients with Ph+ CML in chronic phase, including those who harbor the T315I mutation.

Guest Commentary: The Future of Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Steven Pavletic, MD, and Kirk Schultz, MD, report on the progress and challenges in the management of chronic graft-versus-host disease – the subject of a recent National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference.

17 March 2021 (Wednesday) - Hypogranular Neutrophils

There are precious few other biomedical scientists who write a blog like this, and so when one of them posts about something that they themselves have seen first-hand, I for one and going to shamelessly blag their work.

You can read a rather good case study by clicking here. Hypogranular neutrophils were detected from scrutiny of an XN10 plot… 

17 March 2021 (Wednesday) - IBMS Newsletter

The IBMS sent its “Council and Fellows” newsletter today. As always it was far more about “people” than anything practical, which was a shame.

Whenever anything comes from the IBMS I always seem to be negative about it… What do I actually want from the IBMS? I’m not sure, but I don’t think I am getting it…

17 March 2021 (Wednesday) - Transfusion Evidence Alert Update

The Transfusion Evidence Alert email arrived in my in-box today. Probably (definitely) too much to take in at once, but unusually (at first sight) this lot seems of more peripheral than direct interest. But something for nothing is always worth having…

Top 10 new articles: March 2021 Each month, the NHS Blood and Transplant Systematic Review Initiative provides an overview of the most important new publications in transfusion medicine. All content is sourced from the Transfusion Evidence Library. COVID-19 publications are included in this alert. +++++

ARTICLE OF THE MONTH Effect of a Restrictive vs Liberal Blood Transfusion Strategy on Major Cardiovascular Events Among Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction and Anemia: The REALITY Randomized Clinical Trial. Ducrocq, G., et al. (2021). Jama. PICO Summary available +++++

TOP ARTICLES Impact of treating iron deficiency, diagnosed according to hepcidin quantification, on outcomes after a prolonged ICU stay compared to standard care: a multicenter, randomized, single-blinded trial. Lasocki, S., et al. (2021). Critical care. Comparison of Blood-Conserving and Allogenic Transfusion-Sparing Effects of Antifibrinolytics in Scoliosis Correction Surgery. Ramkiran, S., et al. (2020). Anesthesia, Essays and Researches. An epitope-based approach of HLA-matched platelets for transfusion: a noninferiority crossover randomized trial. Marsh, JC., et al. (2021). Blood. The Impact of Pre-Hospital TXA on Mortality among Bleeding Trauma Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Almuwallad, A., et al. (2021). The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. [Record in progress] Economic Analyses of Pathogen-Reduction Technologies in Blood Transfusion: A Systematic Literature Review. LaFontaine, PR., et al. (2021). Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. Is There a Role for Tranexamic Acid in Upper GI Bleeding? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Burke, E., et al. (2021). Surgery Research and Practice. Quality of evidence-based guidelines for platelet transfusion and use: A systematic review. Al-Riyami, AZ., et al. (2021). Transfusion.

15 March 2021 (Monday) - Bernard Soulier Syndrome

 The nice people at Lablogatory sent a case study today. Bernard Soulier syndrome isn’t something I’ve heard of for quite some time…

12 March 2021 (Friday) - BTLP-TACT Excercise

Time for another BTLP-TACT exercise.
I logged in and was (eventually) presented with one case – a twenty year old chap attending the haematology clinic requiring two units of irradiated blood for the following day.

 The chap grouped as O Rh(D) Positive, but the D reaction was weak. In reality I would have sent this off to the transfusion centre (or whatever they are called these days) to see if this was a weak D or a partial D. In view of that I called the Rh group uninterpretable.
The antibody screen was negative.
I selected two units of O Rh(D) Negative K Negative blood

I got the green light.

11 March 2021 (Thurssday) - Haemolytic Anaemia

The nice people at the American Society of Hematology sent their update today. As always much of it went over my head, but one bit caught my eye:

How I Treat series on acquired hemolytic anemia

Diagnosis and treatment of acquired hemolytic anemia can be challenging. In this How I Treat series, edited by Mario Cazzola, clinical experts discuss their approaches to the treatment of patients with 4 different classes of acquired hemolytic anemia. Read More »