OBJETIVE: To analyze the antithrombin III deficiency in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The blood samples were tested by chromogenic assay to evaluate the activity of antithrombin III. RESULTS: There was only one case of antithrombin III deficiency. This patient experienced one neonatal death after delivery and one FDIU (fetal death in utero). And also this patient showed a lupus anticoagulant and the prolongation of PTT. CONCLUSIONS: Women with recurrent miscarriage who have no obvious identified cause should consider hematologic screening. Antithrombin III deficiency could be a cause of recurrent spontaneous abortion. But the incidence is very rare in Korean patients.
Abortion, Habitual ; Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Antithrombin III Deficiency* ; Antithrombin III* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor ; Mass Screening ; Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the interrelationship between homocysteine and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) mutation in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Homocysteine and MTHFR mutation were tested by fluorescent polarizing immunoassay and PCR-RFLP method, respectively. RESULTS: In patients with homocysteine level less than 5 mmol/L, there was no case of normal group but there were four cases of heterozygosity and one case of homozygosity. In patients with homocysteine level 5~10 mmol/L, the number of normal, heterozygosity and homozygosity group were eleven, eighteen and eight, respectively. In patients with homocysteine level 10~15 mmol/L, the number of normal, heterozygosity and homozygosity group were four, one and one, respectively. In patients with homocysteine level more than 15 mmol/L, there was no case of normal and heterozygosity group but there were two cases of homozygosity. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperhomocysteinemia due to MTHFR mutation is a cause of recurrent spontaneous abortion. And there was a significant relationship between homocysteine and MTHFR mutation.
Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Female ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Hyperhomocysteinemia ; Immunoassay ; Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2)* ; Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To report the prevalence of lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion and infertility. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies were analyzed by Diluted Russell's Viper Venom Test (DRVVT) and solid phase enzyme immunoassay, respectively. RESULTS: In 200 patients with infertility, there were 6 cases (3%) with positive lupus anticoagulants or anticardiolipin antibodies. Of these, 3 patients (1.5%) showed positive lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies, respectively. In 120 patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion, there were 13 cases (10.8%) of positive lupus anticoagulants or anticardiolipin antibodies. Of these, one patient (1%) showed lupus anticoagulants and 12 patients (10%) showed anticardiolipin antibodies. But in two groups, there was no cases with positive lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies. CONCLUSION: Lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies are definite cause of recurrent spontaneous abortion. There has been a speculation that they might be associated with infertility and repeated IVF failures. But it was found that the role of lupus anticoagulants and anticardiolipin antibodies in these cases are not clear.
Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Anticoagulants* ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Infertility* ; Pregnancy ; Prevalence ; Russell's Viper ; Venoms

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate factor XII deficiency in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion and its relation to aPTT. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Factor XII was analyzed by clotting method. RESULTS: Of 70 patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion, there were 35 cases of factor XII deficiency. Among them, there were only 3 cases of prolonged aPTT. CONCLUSIONS: It is still unclear whether factor XII deficiency is related to recurrent spontaneous abortion. Molecular approaches should be used to understand further the causal relationship. But based on this result, in the workup of patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion, factor XII should be included. aPTT is not likely to represent the abnormality of factor XII.
Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Factor XII Deficiency* ; Factor XII* ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy

Mantle cell lymphoma is a subtype of aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and usually presents in advanced stages. When treated with a regimen such as CHOP, the median survival is about three years. More aggressive front-line therapy with the hyper-CVAD regimen or high-dose therapy with stem cell support has shown encouraging results in several trials. The addition of rituximab to the chemotherapy regimens, or high-dose therapy, increased the response and survival rates in patients with mantle cell lymphoma. We report a case of mantle cell lymphoma that was successfully treated with aggressive front-line treatment strategies. The patient achieved complete remission with initial hyper-CVAD regimen, and was consolidated with autologous stem cell transplantation and subsequent rituximab.
Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell* ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Stem Cells* ; Survival Rate ; Rituximab

BACKGROUND: An essential prerequisite for successful procurement of sufficient peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) for engraftment is the optimal timing of collection. The Sysmex SE-9000 automated hematology analyzer provides the immature information (IMI) channel for the identification and counting PBSC. In this study, The optimal timing of PBSC collection was studied using IMI channel. METHODS: 193 peripheral blood stem cell collections were performed from 52 patients with hematologic disorders or solid tumors and 15 donors. Pre-harvest peripheral blood WBC, mononuclear cells (MNC) and IMI were tested and compared with CD34+ cell count and CFU-GM count of harvested products. RESULTS: Peripheral blood WBC and MNC count showed a weak correlation with CD34+ cell yield (r=0.38, P<0.0001 and r=0.38, P<0.0001) and peripheral blood IMI had a stronger correlation (r=0.58, P<0.0001) with collected CD34+cells than did WBC and MNC count. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn for cutoff value of IMI and predictive values of the chosen cutoff value of IMI for different target CD34+ cell collections were calculated. The ROC curve showed that the best cutoff value of IMI was 465/microliter for the target CD34+ cells >1x10(6)/kg with sensitivity of 88.7%. Positive and negative predictive values of IMI >465/microliter for CD34+ cell >1x10(6)/kg were 65.5% and 87.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The automated IMI might be used as a simple and efficient indicator of PBSC mobilization and applying variable cutoff values of IMI would be a useful tool to predict the optimal timing of PBSC collection.
Cell Count ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Progenitor Cells ; Hematology* ; Humans ; ROC Curve ; Stem Cells* ; Tissue Donors

The outcome after unrelated cord blood transplantation (CBT) is similar to that of matched unrelated bone marrow transplantation in children, and the results of CBT in adult patients has recently shown improvement. In addition, the use of reduced-intensity conditioning regimens for CBT has shown stable engraftment and reduced treatment-related mortality (TRM). From May 2005 to Jan 2006, four adult patients with acute myelogenous leukemia were treated with CBT after reduced-intensity conditioning at our hospital. The mean age of patients was 53.8 yrs, and all patients received 2 HLA antigen mismatched single unit cord blood. The infused mean cell dose was 2.85 x 10(7)/kg for total nucleated cells and 0.72 x 10(5)/kg for CD34+ cells. All patients had engraftment. The mean number of days to WBC and platelet engraftment was D+20.3 and D+60.3, respectively. There was no TRM within 100 days after transplantation. At the last follow up, three of the four patients were alive. One patient transplanted in first complete remisson is alive in remission at day 413, but the other patients transplanted in advanced disease all relapsed. Reduced-intensity CBT is a feasible approach in selected adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
Adult* ; Blood Platelets ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Child ; Fetal Blood* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* ; Mortality ; Umbilical Cord*

Background: The risk of device thrombosis and device-oriented clinical outcomes with bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) was reported to be significantly higher than with contemporary drug-eluting stents (DESs). However, optimal device implantation may improve clinical outcomes in patients receiving BVS. The current study evaluated mid-term safety and efficacy of Absorb BVS with meticulous device optimization under intravascular imaging guidance. Methods: The SMART-REWARD and PERSPECTIVE-PCI registries in Korea prospectively enrolled 390 patients with BVS and 675 patients with DES, respectively. The primary endpoint was target vessel failure (TVF) at 2 years and the secondary major endpoint was patientoriented composite outcome (POCO) at 2 years. Results: Patient-level pooled analysis evaluated 1,003 patients (377 patients with BVS and 626 patients with DES). Mean scaffold diameter per lesion was 3.24 ± 0.30 mm in BVS group.Most BVSs were implanted with pre-dilatation (90.9%), intravascular imaging guidance (74.9%), and post-dilatation (73.1%) at proximal to mid segment (81.9%) in target vessel.Patients treated with BVS showed comparable risks of 2-year TVF (2.9% vs. 3.7%, adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.283, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.487–3.378, P = 0.615) and 2-year POCO (4.5% vs. 5.9%, adjusted HR, 1.413, 95% CI, 0.663–3.012,P = 0.370) than those with DES. The rate of 2-year definite or probable device thrombosis (0.3% vs. 0.5%, P = 0.424) was also similar. The sensitivity analyses consistently showed comparable risk of TVF and POCO between the 2 groups. Conclusion With meticulous device optimization under imaging guidance and avoidance of implantation in small vessels, BVS showed comparable risks of 2-year TVF and device thrombosis with DES.