BACKGROUND: A survey for determining the inventory levels of blood products in hospitals is needed, not only for the effective management of the blood products, but also for controlling and planning of the blood supply in Korea. However, any nation-wide survey has never been reported in Korea. Our aims were to provide the information about the status of the RBCs inventory levels of each blood type in the hospitals, and to suggest guidelines for estimating the inventory levels of hospitals. METHODS: We analyzed the data of the average daily usage, the ideal inventory levels and the minimal inventory levels of RBCs according to the each blood type for 28 sentinel hospitals that participate in the 'blood inventory monitoring system'. This system is a surveillance program for monitoring the usage and inventory levels of blood products. RESULTS: The hospitals showed different levels for the average daily usage, the ideal inventory and the minimal inventory according to each blood type. The average daily usage, the ideal inventory level and the minimal inventory level of blood type A were the highest compared to those of the other blood types. For each blood type, the average ideal inventory level is about 5 times higher than the average daily usage, and the average minimal inventory level is about 2 times higher than the average daily usage. CONCLUSION: This is the first nation-wide report on the average daily usage, the ideal inventory levels and the minimal inventory level of each blood type for Korean hospitals, and this data will be helpful to understand the inventory status and estimate the inventory levels of blood products.
Erythrocytes ; Korea ; Nitriles ; Pyrethrins

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with evidence of immune activation and is associated with extraintestinal diseases in numerous target tissues. Extraintestinal manifestations of UC are well described in numerous tissues, most notably mucotaneous, synovial, biliary, and opthalmic. Among hematological complications of UC, autoimmune hemolytic anemia is often reported, but immune-mediated thrombocytopenia (ITP) is rare. We present one case in which exacerbation of UC sequentially induced development of ITP. Platelet-associated antibodies were positive. Bone marrow examinations revealed increased megakaryocyte number. ITP was treated with corticosteroids, intravenous immune gamma- globulin and plasmapheresis. However, because previous treatments were not successful, splenectomy was done. This may provide further evidence that ITP is causally associated with UC, and is the result of immunostimulation from luminal antigens and altered immunoregulation.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune ; Antibodies ; Bone Marrow Examination ; Colitis, Ulcerative* ; Humans ; Immunization ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Megakaryocytes ; Phenobarbital ; Plasmapheresis ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic* ; Splenectomy ; Thrombocytopenia ; Ulcer*

Many AML-associated chromosomal abnormalities, such as t(8;21), t(15;17), inv(16), t(9;11), t(9;22) and t(6;9) are well known. The chromosomal aberration of t(16;21)(p11;q22) in AML is rare and it is known to be associated with poor prognosis, young age (median age, 22 yr), and involvement of various subtypes of the French-American-British classification. We report here 2 AML patients with t(16;21)(p11;q22), proved by conventional cytogenetics and/or reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Erythrophagocytosis by leukemic blasts was observed in both of the cases. One patient was a 24 yr-old male with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. His karyotype was 46,XY,t(16;21)(p11;q22),del(18)(p11.2) and RT-PCR revealed the TLS/FUS-ERG fusion transcripts. Although he received allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation after the first remission, he died 9 months after the initial diagnosis due to relapse of the disease and graft-versus-host disease. The other patient was a 72 yr-old male with acute myeloid leukemia without maturation. His karyotype was 45,XY,-16,add(21)(q22) and the presence of t(16;21)(p11;q22) was detected by RT-PCR. He was transferred to another hospital with no more follow-up. We suggest that the presence of t(16;21)(p11;q22) and/or TLS/FUS-ERG fusion transcripts has to be considered in cases of AML with erythrophagocytosis.
Aged ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16/*genetics ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22/*genetics ; Graft vs Host Disease/diagnosis ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/diagnosis/*genetics ; Male ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion/*genetics ; RNA-Binding Protein FUS/*genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; *Translocation, Genetic ; Young Adult