22 August 2019 (Thursday) - Transfusion News email

The nice people at “Transfusion News” sent their update today. Warm haemolytic anaemias, fibrinogen, the latest advances in technology… all good stuff:

Transfusion Important for Treatment of Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia

August 22, 2019 Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (WAHA) affects 1 to 3 per 100,000 individuals per year and is the most common type of autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Autoantibodies (usually IgG which lack specificity) bind RBCs and are recognized by splenic macrophages at temperatures equal to or greater than body temperature. T cells and complement activation may also [Read More]

Bio-Rad’s IH-500 Automated Blood Bank Testing System

Designed for small- to medium-size laboratories, the IH-500 offers automated blood typing and screening using gel card technology with minimal user intervention. The system can process Bio-Rad’s entire range of IH-Gel Cards to deliver safe and accurate results. [Click for more]

What About Fibrinogen? with Melissa Cushing

August 14, 2019 | BBGuy Podcast CE episode! Are we ignoring the most important coag factor when transfusing bleeding patients? Melissa Cushing asks, "What about fibrinogen?" [Listen Now]

20 August 2019 (Tuesday) - Stem Cell Evidence Alert

I subscribe to the Stem Cell Evidence Alert. Like quite a few of the mailing lists I follow it doesn’t come up with amazingly relevant and directly useful stuff, but background reading is always useful…

Article of the Month: Addition of sirolimus to standard cyclosporine plus mycophenolate mofetil-based graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis for patients after unrelated non-myeloablative haemopoietic stem cell transplantation: a multicentre, randomised, phase 3 trial Sandmaier, B. M., Kornblit, B., et al.  The Lancet. Haematology 2019 PICO Summary available

Selected new publications, including PICO Summaries! Transplantation in children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia from a matched donor versus an hla-identical sibling: Is the outcome comparable? Results from the international bfm all sct 2007 study Balduzzi, A., Dalle, J. H., et al., Biology of blood and marrow transplantation 2019 Effect of Recombinant Zoster Vaccine on Incidence of Herpes Zoster After Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation: A Randomized Clinical Trial Bastidas, A., de la Serna, J., et al. JAMA 2019 Selection of Unrelated Donors and Cord Blood Units for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Guidelines from NMDP/CIBMTR Dehn, J., Spellman, S., et al. Blood 2019. Tandem autologous stem cell transplantation improves outcome in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma with extramedullary disease and high-risk cytogenetics: a study from the Chronic Malignancies Working Party of EBMT Gagelmann, N., Eikema, D. J., et al. Biology of blood and marrow transplantation 2019 Effect of sirolimus on immune reconstitution following myeloablative allogeneic stem-cell transplantation: An ancillary analysis of a randomized controlled trial comparing Tacrolimus/Sirolimus with Tacrolimus/Methotrexate (Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network/BMT CTN 0402) Gooptu, M., Kim, H. T., et al. Biology of blood and marrow transplantation 2019. Comparison of tacrolimus and cyclosporine combined with methotrexate for graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation Huang, B., Lin, X., et all. Transplantation 2019. Survival Outcomes of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplants with EBV positive or EBV negative Post Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder (PTLD), A CIBMTR Study Naik, S., Riches, M., et al. Transplant infectious disease 2019. Immune recovery after in vivo T-cell depletion myeloablative conditioning hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in severe beta-thalassemia children Qin, F., Shi, L., et al. European journal of haematology 2019.

19 August 2019 (Monday) - Weak D

In a welcome break with what is seemingly becoming an annoying tradition, the nice people at Lablogatory came up with a rather useful article today.

Here’s a little review of the weak D phenotypes. I had no idea that eighty-four different variations have (so far) been identified.

17 August 2019 (Saturday) - BTLP Excercise

I did another BTLP-TACT exercise today. I was presented with a forty-five year old woman on the maternity suite with APH. Blood was required within the hour.

She grouped as AB Positive with a positive antibody screen – positive in cell 2. I requested antibody panels.

The enzyme panel was positive in cells 3 and 5 indicating possible anti-E, as was the IAT panel.

I selected two A Pos E Neg K Neg units.

I got the green light.

16 August 2019 (Friday) - CML ? Reactive ?

The Blood and Hematology Facebook group rarely appears in my Facebook feed, but today it did carrying a link to a rather interesting article.

You can see it by clicking here.

Neoplastic or reactive… sometimes very difficult to distinguish…

14 August 2019 (Wednesday) - Oncologist Newsletter

The nice people at “The Oncologist” sent their update today. You can see it by clicking here.

As always it is more of peripheral interest to me rather than of direct relevance, but something for nothing is never to be sniffed at…

13 August 2019 (Tuesday) - High Hb?

Here’s an interesting discussion. What’s your upper limit for phoning a high haemoglobin measurement?

The variation expressed by the different contributors to the group was amazing.

Sometimes I worry about the regulation of medical laboratories. We all have to conform to very stringent guidelines… but something as important as an upper limit for a haemoglobin assay is really whatever you want it to be.

Is it too late to revisit the ISO standards and look at what should actually be standardised?