Background: Refractory/relapsed acute leukemia has always been a challenging problem for hematologist. Over the past decade emphasis has been made in the development of regimens containing fludarabine, combined with cytosine arabinoside for the treatment of refractory/relapsed acute leukemias. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of fludarabine, high dose cytarabine, and granulocyte colony stimulating factor in refractory relapsed cases of acute leukaemia,
Methods: a prospective study is being conducted at the national center of hematology and hematology unit /Baghdad teaching hospital from July 2008 to July 2010.Twenty Patients with refractory/relapsed acute leukemia were treated with fludarabine 30mg/m2 and cytosine arabinoside (AraC) 2 g/m2 for 5 days, and granulocyte colony stimulating factor G-CSF 300 microgram/day from day 0 till neutrophil recovery (ANC >1.0 x 109/l).Response was evaluated by bone marrow examination on day 30-post chemotherapy.
Results: Patients included were refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (n=5), relapsed ALL (n=4), refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (n=8), relapsed AML (n=3). Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 9(45%) patients, 3 (15%) patients got partial remission. Three (15%) patients died of post chemotherapy complications and 5(25%) patient failed to achieve remission. Major complications encountered were: anemia, fever, bleeding, mucositis and bacterial infections.
Conclusion: FLAG protocol is well tolerated and effective regimen in relapsed / refractory acute leukemias. The toxicity is acceptable, enabling most patients to receive further treatment, including transplantation procedures
Background: Arylesterase activity of Paraoxonase-1 (ARE-PON-1) exhibits an antioxidant role which protects lipoprotein from oxidation. It is known that ARE-PON-1 antioxidant activity associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) reduces the oxidative damage mediated by low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The present study was aimed to examine the level of serum ARE-PON1 in Iraqi patients with β-thalassemia minor and its relationship with lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C), and LDL-C) and hematologic changes as a part of antioxidant system action. Methods: In the present study, the ARE-PON-1 activity was investigated in serum of patients with β-thalassemia minor. Resu
... Show MoreThis study was established to investigate the correlation between the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1) and the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Blood samples were collected from 55 female patients with inflammatory OA and controls for estimation of serum (MMP-1) levels. In the current study, there is significant increase (p<0.001) in the mean of serum MMP-1 levels in osteoarthritis females (4027.73 ± 1345.28 pg/ml) than that in control females (798.76 ± 136.79 pg/ml). It was concluded that MMP-1 may be associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.
The nature and intensity of the association of myasthenia gravis (MG) with distinct human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes differ between ethnic populations, so this study determined the association of HLA class II antigens with myasthenia gravis (MG) in Iraq.The study included Iraqi patients diagnosed with MG and two control groups the first of 54 insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients and the second of 237 subjects as a normal control group. The test used was microlymphocytotoxicity test.The work was done in the Teaching Laboratories/Medical City/Baghdad.Results: positive associations were observed (etiological risk factors) as follows: 1. HLA-DR locus showed one positively associated allele when compared to healthy control and th
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) is a chronic and progressive condition, which affects people all around the world. The risk of complications increases with age if the disease is not managed properly. Diabetic neuropathy is caused by excessive blood glucose and lipid levels, resulting in nerve damage. Apelin is a peptide hormone that is found in different human organs, including the central nervous system and adipose tissue. The aim of this study is to estimate Apelin levels in diabetes type 2 and Diabetic peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) Iraqi patients and show the extent of peripheral nerve damage. The current study included 120 participants: 40 patients with Diabetes Mellitus, 40 patients with Diabetic peripheral Neuropathy, and 40 healthy
... Show MoreRenal function tests are commonly used in clinical practice to look for renal disease, the most common includes the serum urea, uric acid and creatinine. Heart failure patients have a higher incidence of renal function test abnormalities than individuals who do not have heart failure disease. Fifty subjects of adults (male) were divided in to two groups, 25 subjects (healthy) as control (group1) and 25 subjects with heart failure (group 2). Our results indicate that serum uric acid, urea, and creatinine values were significantly elevated (P≤0.05) in patients group (2) compared with healthy group (1). The results also showed, the effect of age categories on uric acid blood urea nitrogen and creatinine values (P≤0.05) and there were no si
... Show MoreABSTRACT : Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common inflammatory neurodegenerative diseases linked with dementia, it is characterized by the deposition of amyloid beta-peptide (Ab) in the brain. The present study aims to innovate a biochemical relationship between AD and interleukin 38 (IL-38) as an anti-inflammatory cytokine, expose novel mechanisms and concepts regarding other biochemical parameters studied previously or recently in AD patients and also examine the biochemical action of memantine (10 mg daily) on AD patients. Sixty (60) diagnosed AD patients participated in the present study and classified into four (4) groups: G3 were composed of (15) newly diagnosed males (52-78) years / without treatment, G4 composed of (15
... Show MoreHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has a worldwide distribution and common infections. The presence of HCMV genome and antigens has been detected in many kinds of human cancers. The proto-oncogene Her2/neu is overexpressed in 25% to 30% of human breast cancers and frequently associated with tumor aggressiveness and worse prognosis. Examination was applied to detect different HCMV antigens and to demonstrate their correlation with Her2/neu overexpression in breast cancer. The present study includes samples from 70 women of 60 breast cancer patients and 10 normal breast tissues. Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks were obtained from each woman according to ethical approval. Human cytomegalovirus early antigen expression was detected in 5
... Show MoreThis study aimed to evaluate the IHC expression of CDX2 protein in HGC patients and control groups and also to study the correlation between IHC expression of the CDX2 and different clinicopathological variables such as: age, gender, histopathological subtype, grade, and stage of the tumor in HGC cases. the retrospectively sectional study for the period from 2014 to 2018 included a total of 60 formalin fixed paraffin embedded blocks of the HGC tissue (partial or total gastrectomy specimens) that collected from the archived materials of the Department of Pathology of Baghdad Teaching Hospital and the Center of Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Diseases, and also some samples were collected from other private laboratories. The IHC expression of th
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