Fetomaternal haemorrhage (FMH) may occur following a sensitizing event, during pregnancy or at delivery. In cases of rhesus (Rh) incompatibility between mother and the fetus, it can thus subject to the haemolytic disease of the newborn. The Kleihauer test for quantification of FMH lacks standardization and results are less accurate. Furthermore, it cannot differentiate the foetal cell from the adult HbF. Flowcytometry analysis using monoclonal antibodies, is a new technique for the quantification of FMH and it allows larger number of cells to be analysed. It is also able to differentiate the foetal cell from maternal HbF, and thus is more sensitive and accurate. The objective of our study was to determine the FMH using the flowcytometric analysis of anti-HbF antibody and to correlate the FMH using flow cytometry and the standard Kleihauer test. Ninety eight peripheral blood samples from pregnant women at more than 20 weeks of pregnancy and post delivery were analyzed by both methods. The percentage of the foetal cells were recorded and the FMH were calculated. We found a fair correlation between the two methods with the correlation coefficient r = 0.633 (p
Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is an uncommon disorder which usually presents with prolonged and significant primary eosinophilia with end-organ dysfunction. Damaging proteins released by the eosinophilic granules are responsible for the tissues and organ system damage. Here we report two cases of idiopathic HES. Both the patients were young lady presented with high grade fever and concomitant symptoms. Laboratory findings showed leucocytosis with predominant neutrophilia and marked eosinophilia. A diagnosis of idiopathic HES was made after excluding secondary causes of eosinophilia. However, the first patient was complicated with multiple venous thrombosis and intravenous heparin was started which was later changed to subcutaneous low molecular weight heparin (LMWH). The patient developed pleural effusion and consolidation. Intravenous Tazoscin, tablet Prednisolone and tablet Hydroxyurea was started and the patient responded well. Despite treatment, two weeks later, suddenly the patient collapsed and unfortunately succumbed. On the other hand, the second patient was complicated with fever, thrombocytopenia, haemolytic anaemia, acute renal failure and neurological deficit which were part and parcel of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Plasma exchange was commenced and patient’s condition had slowly improved. Nevertheless, the hypoxia which she sustained during the multiple episodes of fits had resulted in permanent brain injury and thus requiring a tracheostomy for prolonged ventilatory support. Currently, there is no cure for HES. The main aim of treatment is to minimise the tissue damage caused by the hypereosinophilia. Early diagnosis and intervention are therefore crucial in preventing the spread of the disease and the end-organ damage.
Thymomas comprise about 1% of all mediastinal tumours and are rare in children. Typically, these tumours are aggressive, with a poor outcome. The current treatment of invasive thymoma is often multidisciplinary. We report a 16-year-old boy with invasive thymoma who was successfully treated with systemic chemotherapy, surgical resection and irradiation. The patient has been in continuous remission for 6 years without radiographic evidence of tumour recurrence.
Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is the most common subtype of acute leukaemias with a poor outcome. Msi2 protein is a newly discovered prognostic marker and it has been considered as a new target for therapy in AML. The study of Msi2
protein expression in AML cases has not been performed in Malaysia, to date. The main aim of the present study was to observe the expression of Msi2 protein in AML patients by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and to correlate its expression
with the well-established prognostic and clinical parameters in AML as well as the overall survival (OS). Sixty four bone marrow trephine biopsy sections were immunostained for Msi2 protein. The percentage of blasts with positive reaction
and the intensity of the cytoplasmic and nuclear staining were evaluated. The expression of Msi2 protein was found in 95.3% cases with Msi2 pattern varying between the cases. In 71.9% of cases, the blasts showed total cellular positivity and 23.4% cases showed only cytoplasmic positivity. Majority showed high expression of Msi2 for cytoplasmic staining. Interestingly, there was significant correlation between total cellular staining and the intermediate cytogenetic subgroup (P=0.04). In conclusion, the results showed that the majority of the patients had high expression of Msi2 but this did not correlate to OS. However, the Msi2 expression correlated to the cytogenetic findings. The results suggest future extensive research to be conducted in order to ascertain the exact role of Msi2 positive blast cells in AML in our population and their association with prognosis and outcome.
Keywords: AML, cytogenetics, immunohistochemistry, Msi2 protein
Plasma cell myeloma is known to cause expansion of a single clone of munoglobulin (Ig) which results in the secretion of a unique homogeneous monoclonal protein (M component). However, there are cases which reported that it can also cause production of two different clones of these monoclonal proteins. Although it is relatively very rare as the prevalence is only 2% of all plasma cell myeloma cases, the clinical features are said to be similar to monoclonal gammopathy. It is suggested that these biclonal gammopathy results from either one monoclonal cell clone in monoclonal gammopathy or two different monoclonal cell clones. Whichever the mechanism of the disease be, the response to treatment seems to be similar as compared to the monoclonal cases although some reports shows chemoresistant. Here, we report a rare case of plasma cell myeloma with IgG (lambda) and IgA (lambda) type of biclonal gammopathy, the clinical presentation, the haematological and biochemical markers as well as the response to the treatment.
Keywords: biclonal gammopathy, M protein, plasma cell myeloma
Megakaryoblastic leukaemia is the commonest form of leukaemia occuring in Down syndrome infants. However, it’s subtype with translocation t(1;22)(p13;q13) is uncommon comprising
Red cell alloimmunisation is defined as the development of antibodies in response to foreign red cell antigens through transfusion or pregnancy. In pregnant women even without the history of previous blood transfusion, this is possible through previous or current pregnancy with the presence of paternal red cell antigen inherited by the fetus. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of red cell alloimmunisation among pregnant women without previous history of blood transfusion and the association with number of pregnancy and history of obstetric complications. This was a cross-sectional study in which 150 pregnant women were randomly selected from the antenatal clinic. Ten mls of peripheral blood was obtained for antibody screening using indirect antiglobulin test besides the routine antenatal screening. In this study, the majority (37.3%) of the women were primigravidae. Red cell alloantibodies were detected in two out of 150 (1.3%) patients which were subsequently identified as anti-C and anti-D. However none of the primigravida was alloimmunised. One woman of gravida 2 (2.9%) and gravida 3 (3.6%) each were positive for alloimmunisation. One of them also had a bad obstetric history. This study showed that the prevalence of red cell alloimmunisation among pregnant women was low in this centre. Nevertheless, red cell alloantibody screening test should be made available to reduce possible complications of alloimmunisation in mothers and fetuses.
Study site: Antenatal clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia