First Successful Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation in Romania.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an established treatment for many malignant and non-malignant haematological disorders. In the current case report, we describe the first haploidentical stem cell transplantation, used for the first time in Romania, the case of a 33 year-old young woman diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma that has underwent a haploSCT after she relapsed from several chemotherapy regimens, as well as after an autologous stem cell transplantation. This success represents a prèmiere in Romanian clinical hematology, being the first case of a haploSCT in Romania, as well as in South-Eastern Europe.

Mucormycosis during Imatinib treatment: case report.

UNLABELLED: Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia is classified as a very high-risk group and it requires an intensive chemotherapy regimen associated with tyrosine-kinase inhibitors and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant from related or unrelated HLA matched donor. Most times, intensive chemotherapy regimens are associated with prolonged and profound pancytopenia when the risk of invasive fungal infection increases. After Candida and Aspergillus species, Mucormycosis is the third frequent fungal infection in hematology patients and it is associated with a reduced overall survival. When suspected, immediate treatment is needed. We present the case of 24-year-old patient diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia who developed right rhino-sino-orbital fungal infection with a favorable response to systemic antifungal treatment and noninvasive surgery. Later, patient refused consolidation and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant from an unrelated HLA matched donor but accepted the first generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (Imatinib) and maintained a complete hematological and molecular response. ABBREVIATIONS: ENT = ear nose throat; BMB = bone marrow biopsy; ALL = acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TKI = tyrosine kinase inhibitor; IFI = invasive fungal infection; BMB = bone marrow biopsy; HE = hematoxylin and eosin; IHC = immunohistochemistry; CD = cluster of differentiation; ob = objective; Tdt = terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase.

Intra-operative measurement of vertebral bone strength.

A significant complication of surgical correction of the deformed spine is pull out of the vertebral hooks or screws. This complication can be partly attributed to poor bone stock. Currently, there are few methods available for surgeons to assess the mechanical strength and stiffness of the vertebra, and even fewer methods that provide in-vivo measurements. An "upbiter" is often used to form a seat in the lamina for the hook. A typical upbiter was modified and instrumented with strain gauges to investigate the feasibility of determining the forces and displacements needed to cut through laminar bone during surgical procedures. The calibration showed that the system was repeatable and could highly correlated with applied force (R2=0.98) and displacement (R2=0.99) with resolutions of 0.72 N and 0.40 mm respectively. This system was tested on three females, on lamina ranging from T4 to T12 regions. The average maximum force for bone failure was at 470+/-128N.