Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal stem disease with distinctive clinical course which is ultimately fatal. It is characterized by the presence of Philadelphia
chromosome (t 9:22).Tyrosine kinase inhibitors like imatinib mesylate as targeted therapy had revolutionized the management of CML with significant prolongation of overall survival and
decreased rate of blastic transformation.
Objective:This study will describe the experience of treating 44 Iraqi patients with chronic myeloid leukemia by imatinib at the National Hematology Centre in Baghdad.
Patients and Methods:This study included 44 Iraqi patients diagnosed in Chronic phase CML at the National Centre of Hematology in Baghdad from February 2003 till January 2006, all
were pretreated with alfa interferon and hydroxyurea. All patients were started on imatinib mesylate 400 mg orally daily. The end points included overall survival (OS) and Blastic
transformation free survival (TFS).The effect of age, gender, WBC count on starting Imatinib, presence of splenomegaly and duration of diagnosis of CML prior to starting imatinib, on the
OS and TFS were studied.
Results:Median age was 35 years with 27 males and 17 females. The 3 year OS was 88.6% and the TFS was 79.5%.The only factor that had negative impact on OS and TFS was a
diagnosis of CML more than 2 years before starting imatinib. The most common side effects were myalgia(75%) and peripheral oedema(65%). Neutropenia(20%),thrombocytopenia(12%)
and elevated serum transaminases (2%) necessitated temporary cessation of treatment.No cytogenetic and molecular studies were available .
Conclusion:Imatinib is an effective therapy for Iraqi patients with CML with tolerable side effects and should be offered to newly dignosed CML patients as early as possible as frontline
therapy to ensure better OS and TFS.Establishment of cytogenetic and molecular studies are crucial to optimize management.
Toxoplasmosis is a widespread infection usually caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite. It occurs in humans and other warm blooded animals, causing severe problems. It was found that there is an alteration in the trace elements concentrations levels associated with some human diseases. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the concentrations of some trace elements (Mg, Fe , Zn, and Cu) in the sera of 60 immunocompetent patients with chronic toxoplasmosis and 82 healthy individuals as a control group. Measuring the serum level of seropositivity rate of anti-T. gondii antibodies was done by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Kit, while the concentrations of trace elements were measured by absorption spectrophotometry
... Show MoreBackground: The estimation of ferritin and related variables by complete serum iron profile, for Iraqi hashimoto’s patients to see the effect of thyroid hormone insufficiency, which may lead to deficiency of ferritin iron stores, this may be quite useful during the diagnosis and treatment of hashimoto’s patients. Patients and Method: The study was performed at National Center of Teaching laboratories of Medical city institute in Baghdad. Fifty newly diagnosed patients with hashimoto’s and forty apparently healthy controls. Diagnosis based on thyroid profile analysis including:Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), Thyroxine (totalT4) and Triiodothyronine (total T3), estimation of antibodies against thyroperoxidase, iron profile including:
... Show MoreBackground: Fibromyalgia syndrome and psoriasis share various soft problems. In addition, patients with psoriasis can experience subjective joint swelling and pain (Fibromyalgia syndrome) and objective swelling (Psoriatic arthritis) with the latter requiring systemic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs while the former requires anti-fibromyalgia measures.
Objective: To assess the rate of fibromyalgia syndrome in a sample of Iraqi patients with psoriasis.
Patients and Method: A sample of one hundred and twenty Iraqi patients with psoriasis and another one hundred and twenty healthy individuals matched for age and sex, serving as control group were studied. Full history was taken and complete clinical examination was done and vario
Background: Fibromyalgia has been associated with physical and emotional trauma including invasive medical procedures. Both Fibromyalgia and ischemic heart disease have been linked with depression. The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome in patients with ischemic heart disease.Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was done in the Iraqi Center for Heart Disease. One hundred patients, angiographically proved to have ischemic heart disease, were subjected to rheumatologic examination by another physician, and compared to hundred healthy individuals as a control group. Diagnosis of fibromyalgia was based on 1990 American College of Rheumatology Classification criteria for the diagnosis of
... Show MoreInfection of the gastric mucosa with Helicobacter pylori is strongly associated with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Helicobacter pylori virulence factors include a variety of proteins that are involved in its pathogenesis, such as VacA and CagA. Another group of virulence factors is clearly important for colonization of H.pylori in the gastric mucosa. These include urease, motility factors (flagellin), and Superoxide dismutase (SOD). Because of this organism's microaerophilic nature and the increased levels of reactive oxygen in the infected host, we expect that other factors involved in the response to oxidative stress are likely to be required for virulence. Superoxide dismutase is a near
... Show MoreThe present research design examines the relationship between SCARB1 gene expression and the progression of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in Iraqi patients. The variations in gene expression between patients with CML and healthy controls were investigated. The gender and age correlations with CML patients were included, as was the association of gene expression folding of the SCARB1 gene with clinical data (WBC, RBC, hemoglobin, platelets, and BCR-ABL gene). The results displayed a significant difference in the mean gene expression level (∆Ct) of the CML group when compared to the matching ∆Ct values in the healthy control group. The gene expression folding of the SCARB1 gene indicates considerable changes in expression, wh
... Show MoreThe survival analysis is one of the modern methods of analysis that is based on the fact that the dependent variable represents time until the event concerned in the study. There are many survival models that deal with the impact of explanatory factors on the likelihood of survival, including the models proposed by the world, David Cox, one of the most important and common models of survival, where it consists of two functions, one of which is a parametric function that does not depend on the survival time and the other a nonparametric function that depends on times of survival, which the Cox model is defined as a semi parametric model, The set of parametric models that depend on the time-to-event distribution parameters such as
... Show MoreBackground: The hepatitis G virus( HGV), also called hepatitis GB virus, as a member of the Flaviviridae family distantly related to hepatitis C virus (HCV), Little is known about the frequency of HGV infection, the nature of the illness, or how to prevent it. What is known is that transfused blood containing HGV has caused some cases of hepatitis. They infect humans, but are not known to cause human disease. This virus can be transmitted efficiently by blood transfusion and by other parenteral mechanisms. Transient and long lasting infections with HGV have been documented in man.
Patients and methods: HBs Ag, Anti-HCV IgG and Anti-HGV IgG were detected by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).HCV RNA
Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a stem cell disorder associated with an acquired chromosomal abnormality, Philadelphia chromosome (Ph), which arises from the reciprocal translocation of part of long arm of chromosome 9, in which proto-oncogene ablson gene (abl) is located, to long arm of chromosome 22, in which break point cluster region gene (bcr) is located. The bcr-abl fusion gene can be detected using several molecular methods. For its simplicity, rapidity, and sensitivity, Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is one of the most common techniques used for analyzing whether a target gene is being expressed or not.
Patients and methods: Venous blood (VB) sample from hem