The first case report of a patient with coexisting hemophilia B and Down syndrome

No abstract available.

Plasma cell leukemia in North India: retrospective analysis of a distinct clinicohematological entity from a tertiary care center and review of literature

BACKGROUND: Plasma cell leukemia (PCL) is a rare and aggressive plasma cell neoplasm. In PCL, clonal plasma cells comprise ≥20% of the peripheral blood (PB) leukocytes and/or the absolute clonal PB plasma cell count is ≥2×10(9)/L. Primary PCL (PPCL) originates de novo, whereas, secondary PCL (SPCL) evolves from pre-existing multiple myeloma. METHODS: Clinicohematological features, immunophenotypic profile, and survival of PCL patients were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Between January 2007 and December 2014, ten PPCL and four SPCL patients were investigated (8 PPCLs and 3 SPCLs had complete clinical data). All were North Indians, sharing common geography and ethnicity. Our cohort showed less frequent renal failure, more frequent hepatomegaly, and non-secretory type disease. In contrast to western literature, flow cytometric immunophenotyping of our cohort revealed altered expression of CD138 (67%), CD56 (33%), and CD20 (0%). With novel therapeutic agents, these PPCL patients had a median overall survival of 15 months. CONCLUSION: We highlight that our PPCL patients from North India had distinct clinicohematological and immunophenotypic profiles. The significance of our findings must be tested in a larger patient cohort and must be supported by molecular and cytogenetic investigations to unmask possible significant effects on pathogenesis.

Inherited thrombophilia profile in patients with recurrent miscarriages: Experience from a tertiary care center in north India

The cause of recurrent miscarriage (RM) remains unexplained in approximately 30% to 50% cases. The association of inherited thrombotic factors and RM patients has not been documented from the northern part of India. A total of 40 patients had been investigated for inherited thrombophilia workup (protein C, protein S [PS], antithrombin III, and factor V Leiden [FVL] mutation) over a period of 10 years (2005 to 2014). RM patients were divided in to three groups. Group I (only 1st trimester loss), group II (only 2nd and 3rd trimester), and group III (mixed). Each group comprised of the following numbers of patients respectively: I, 24; II, 2; III, 14. Heterozygous FVL mutation was found in 10% (4/40) cases. PS deficiency was detected in 2.7% (1/37) cases. In the present study FVL and PS were seems to be associated with a subset of patients however further studies with larger numbers of patients are recommended for better evaluation.