To assess outcomes of patients with hematologic malignancy and pandemic (H1N1) 2009 infection, we reviewed cases during June-December 2009 at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Seventeen (63%) and 10 (37%) patients had upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), respectively. Cough (85%) and fever (70%) were the most common sign...

A chemiluminescent based Southern blot assay is described for the detection of gene rearrangements in human hematologic malignancies. The DNA probes for regions of rearrangements within the immunoglobulin genes were labeled with digoxigenin-11-dUTP and detected by an antibody conjugated to alkaline phosphatase with Lumiphos 530 as a substrate. This assay has proven more sensitive than colorimet...

BACKGROUND Spontaneous splenic rupture (SSR) is a very rare complication described in several hundred patients, mainly as case reports. It is defined as a splenic rupture without antecedent injury. The authors of the present paper describe the only two SSR cases diagnosed at the Hemato-oncology department, coincidentally in one year. PATIENTS The first patient was admitted to hospital because...

BACKGROUND Pleural effusions occur in patients with hematologic malignancies, particularly during periods of hospitalization. Thoracentesis is often performed to diagnose infection and to exclude the presence of complicated parapneumonic effusions. The efficacy and safety of thoracentesis in this setting has not been well-studied. DESIGN Retrospective chart review of hospitalized patients wit...

Neutropenic patients with cancer are a heterogeneous group of patients who carry a variable risk for infection. When such patients present with fever, appropriate empiric antibiotic therapy is initiated and continued until clinical improvement or clinical or microbiologic data direct a modification in treatment. As the duration of neutropenia increases, so does the need for antimicrobial modifi...

Sweet’s syndrome, oral Malignancy Squamous-cell carcinoma A. Giménez-Arnau, MD, PhD, Department of Dermatology, Hospital del Mar, Passeig Maritim 25-29, E-08003 Barcelona (Spain) Sweet’s syndrome (SS) or acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis [1] as marker of malignancy was suggested by Clemmensen et al. [2] in 1989. These patients show some of the severer cutaneous features of the disorder. The...