Bone Marrow Transplantation News

Light therapy appeared to be an effective intervention for the prevention of painful oral mucositis associated with cancer treatment, according to results of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

A case report published in Pediatrics recently detailed the illness of a girl aged 12 years with leukemia who developed hyperammonemic encephalopathy resulting from Ureaplasma parvum. Researchers suggested that although the invasive infection is rare, providers should consider it in immunocompromised children with unexplained hyperammonemia.

Researchers at West Virginia University have found that p53-TIGAR-mediated glycolytic suppression decreases DNA damage, improves chromosomal instability and consequently prevents premature exhaustion in Fanconi anemia hematopoietic stem cells.

Several distinguished leaders in hematology will be honored with awards and special lectures at this year’s ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, scheduled for Dec. 7-10 in Orlando, Florida.

Two hematologists at City of Hope have been appointed to new positions.

Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, continues to be a significant pathogen in both hospitals and community-based settings. The associated morbidity, mortality and health care costs have prompted many to strengthen infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship strategies to minimize transmission and recurrence. Optimizing these efforts is a tough task because of the broad array of CDI risk factors. Recent antibiotic exposure — especially to fluoroquinolones, clindamycin, carbapenems and third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins — along with chemotherapy, proton-pump inhibitors, immunosuppression, advanced age, comorbidities such as renal dysfunction and hospitalization duration are known CDI risk factors. The frequent exposure to antimicrobials and health care settings, along with higher rates of C. difficile colonization in the immunosuppressed population, poses an appreciable conundrum to clinicians who are trying to reduce CDI risk.

Updated clinical practice guidelines prepared by the European Conference on Infections in Leukemia recommend the use of letermovir for the prevention of cytomegalovirus in adults undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, or HSCT. The guidance was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The FDA approved ruxolitinib for the treatment of steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease among adults and children aged 12 years and older.

Translating genomic and big data into clinical tools for physicians and patients with cancer is an enormous challenge that has been enthusiastically accepted by Aziz Nazha, MD, hematologist and medical oncologist at Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute.

Individuals previously diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy appeared at higher risk for developing head and neck cancers, according to results of a retrospective study published in JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.