Publications by authors named "Karsten Spiekermann"

Background/aim: Neutropenic enterocolitis (NE), also known as typhlitis, is a life-threatening gastrointestinal complication primarily affecting immunocompromised patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy. Its management becomes particularly challenging when compounded by comorbidities such as Behçet's disease with gastrointestinal involvement.

Case Report: We report the case of a 44-year-old male with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and intestinal Behçet's disease who developed severe NE during induction chemotherapy.

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We performed a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study to analyze Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) long-term survivor (LTS) outcomes, including psychosocial well-being and somatic health status. Four-hundred-twenty-seven former AML patients participated (response rate, 63%) ≥5 years[y] and up to 18.6 y past their leukemia diagnosis (median, 11.

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Purpose: The phase III APOLLO trial prospectively compared the efficacy of arsenic trioxide (ATO) in combination with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) regimen (ATRA and ATO [ATRA-ATO]) plus low-dose idarubicin versus standard ATRA plus anthracycline-based chemotherapy (ATRA-CHT) regimen (ie, ATRA and idarubicin regimen) in patients with high-risk acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL; EudraCT 2015-01151-68; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02688140).

Methods: Adult patients with newly diagnosed high-risk APL in the ATRA-ATO arm received ATO 0.

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Antimicrobial prophylaxis is an important cornerstone for reducing morbidity and mortality of cancer patients. Important strides have been made in recent years in vaccination, drug prophylaxes and the use of growth-factor support. We detail these changes to the respective recommendations here.

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Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is common in the general population and associated with various health risks, but its prevalence and clinical implications in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) long-term survivors (LTS; ≥5-year survival) are unknown. We analyzed CH in 373 AML-LTS with a median 11.6-year follow-up from diagnosis using a sensitive targeted sequencing assay based on single-molecule molecular inversion probes.

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The addition of gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) to intensive chemotherapy (IC) has become a mainstay in treating patients with core binding factor acute myeloid leukemia (CBF-AML). However, evidence for the efficacy of GO in this particular subgroup is primarily based on meta-analytic data from different trials conducted more than a decade ago. In this registry-based study, we evaluated the impact of adding GO to IC in 265 CBF-AML patients from the SAL, AMLCG, and CELL cooperative study groups.

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Background: Evidence on patient pathways, care coordination, and patient needs in rare cancers (RC) is limited but essential for optimising healthcare systems and resource allocation. Addressing these gaps requires country-specific data reflecting national healthcare structures and cultural differences. This is the first study in Germany to explore these dimensions.

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For younger, medically fit patients with NPM1-mutated, FLT3-wildtype acute myeloid leukemia (AML) intensive chemotherapy represents standard of care (SOC), with complete remission (CR) rates observed in up to 85% of patients and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates of 40-50%. However, significant toxicity and need for hospitalization pose challenges on patients' outcome and quality of life (QoL). Venetoclax (VEN) combined with azacitidine (AZA) has demonstrated encouraging efficacy in older, unfit AML patients, achieving high CR/CRi rates and promising OS with lower toxicity.

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Mutations of the FMS-like tyrosine kinase (FLT3) occur in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and are associated with very poor prognosis. Available FLT3 inhibitors are potent but either show a lack of selectivity regarding other tyrosine kinases or only transient efficacy due to emerging resistance under therapy. Water-soluble derivatives of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor Marbotinib are highly selective dual-type I/II inhibitors of FLT3.

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Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an orphan disease characterized by excessive inflammation and poor outcome. We sought to further characterize clinical features, courses, and risk factors of secondary HLH (sHLH) triggered by infection (iHLH). 28 (43.

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A persistent lymphadenopathy poses a diagnostic challenge for physicians. A wide variety of different diseases can manifest with enlarged lymph nodes. The most common causes are infections and other non-malignant conditions, but it is important not to overlook warning signs of a malignant disease to avoid delaying further diagnostics and therapy.

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Febrile Neutropenia is an emergency in the treatment of cancer patients. It requires prompt and evidence-based clinical and antimicrobial management. The implementation of standard operating procedures (SOP) across hospitals and outpatient cancer departments can improve the outcome of FN patients by reducing FN-related morbidity and mortality and by the continuation of cancer treatment.

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Whether patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) harboring nucleophosmin mutations (NPM1mut) and measurable residual disease (MRD) should undergo allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) in complete remission (CR) remains debatable. This study assessed whether bone marrow (BM) NPM1mut MRD, detected via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) with 10-5 sensitivity, influences allo-SCT benefit. Data from 4 German transplantation centers included 174 patients with AML NPM1mut who underwent first allo-SCT between 2011 and 2022.

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Refractory disease and relapse are major challenges in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapy attributed to survival of leukemic stem cells (LSC). To target LSCs, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) provide an elegant solution, combining the specificity of antibodies with highly potent payloads. We aimed to investigate if FLT3-20D9h3-ADCs delivering either the DNA-alkylator duocarmycin (DUBA) or the microtubule-toxin monomethyl auristatin F (MMAF) can eradicate quiescent LSCs.

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Assignment of patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to the 2022 European LeukemiaNet (ELN) favorable genetic risk group has important clinical implications, as allogeneic stem cell transplantation in first complete remission (CR) is not advised due to a relatively good outcome of patients receiving chemotherapy alone and transplant-associated mortality. However, not all favorable genetic risk patients experience long-term relapse-free survival (RFS), making recognition of patients who would most likely be cured of high importance. We analyzed 297 patients aged <60 years with AML classified as 2022 ELN favorable genetic risk who achieved a CR and had RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and gene mutation data from diagnostic samples available (Alliance trial A152010).

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The case of a 33-year-old male with recurrent icterus and hemolysis since childhood that was long mistaken for Gilbert disease is presented. Subsequently, the patient also developed splenomegaly and gallstones together with iron overload. Genetic testing revealed the diagnosis of hereditary xerocytosis, which is an erythrocyte membrane disorder causing recurrent hemolysis.

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Patients with cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) may harbor prognostically relevant gene mutations and thus be categorized into one of the three 2022 European LeukemiaNet (ELN) genetic-risk groups. Nevertheless, there remains heterogeneity with respect to relapse-free survival (RFS) within these genetic-risk groups. Our training set included 306 adults on Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology studies with de novo CN-AML aged < 60 years who achieved a complete remission and for whom centrally reviewed cytogenetics, RNA-sequencing, and gene mutation data from diagnostic samples were available (Alliance trial A152010).

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Despite recent refinements in the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of CEBPA mutations in AML, several questions remain open, i.e. implications of different types of basic region leucin zipper (bZIP) mutations, the role of co-mutations and the allelic state.

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Clinical outcome of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with demographic and genetic features. Although the associations of acquired genetic alterations with patients' sex have been recently analyzed, their impact on outcome of female and male patients has not yet been comprehensively assessed. We performed mutational profiling, cytogenetic and outcome analyses in 1726 adults with AML (749 female and 977 male) treated on frontline Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology protocols.

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The manual examination of blood and bone marrow specimens for leukemia patients is time-consuming and limited by intra- and inter-observer variance. The development of AI algorithms for leukemia diagnostics requires high-quality sample digitization and reliable annotation of large datasets. Deep learning-based algorithms using these datasets attain human-level performance for some well-defined, clinically relevant questions such as the blast character of cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • Acute megakaryoblastic leukaemia (AMKL) is a serious type of cancer that is hard to treat, and most patients don’t do well.
  • Scientists studied 38 adults with AMKL to learn more about their genes and how well different treatments worked.
  • Those who had a special transplant (called allo-HSCT) lived longer than those who only got regular treatment, but many still had a chance for the cancer to come back.
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