Medical Bulletin 14/April/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

New target identified that may prevent blood cancer

More than 10% of older adults develop somatic (non-inherited) mutations in blood stem cells that can trigger explosive, clonal expansions of abnormal cells, increasing the risk for blood cancer and cardiovascular disease.

An international coalition of biomedical researchers co-led by Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has determined a new way to measure the growth rate of precancerous clones of blood stem cells that one day could help doctors lower their patients’ risk of blood cancer.

Reference:

Aberrant activation of TCL1A promotes stem cell expansion in clonal haematopoiesis,Nature,doi 10.1038/s41586-023-05806-1

Study shows HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C could be detected from a single drop of blood

More than one million people a year are killed by hepatitis B or hepatitis C. 650,000 people die from HIV-related causes annually and 1.5 million acquire HIV.

The World Health Organisation has made the elimination of all three viruses by 2030 one of its global health strategies but new tests are necessary if case numbers are to be reduced.

Data on a test that can detect HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C from a single drop of blood is being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark, (15-18 April).

Reference:

Mr Stephen Nilsson-Møller et al,EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, ECCMID 2023 MEETING

Study finds sex of blood donor to have no effect on recipient survival

The possible impact of the sex of a blood donor on recipient survival has been an unanswered question in transfusion medicine since 2015, when the American National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute identified it as a research priority. Some evidence suggested that sex-related differences such as hormone levels in male and female blood might affect recipient survival, but the results of observational studies have been conflicting.

A large clinical trial of more than 8,700 patients published in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the sex of a donor has no effect on the survival of recipients of red blood cell transfusions.

Reference:

The effect of donor sex on recipient mortality in transfusion. Michaël Chassé, Dean A Fergusson, Alan Tinmouth, Jason P Acker, Iris Perelman, Angie Tuttle, Shane English, Steven Hawken, Alan J Forster, Nadine Shehata, Kednapa Thavorn, Kumanan Wilson, Nancy Cober, Heather Maddison, Melanie Tokessy. New England Journal of Medicine. April 12, 2023.

Tranexamic acid apparently does not prevent maternal hemorrhage after cesarean delivery: Study

Antifibrinolytic medication includes tranexamic acid. It functions by preventing the dissolution of blood clots, which stops bleeding.

Tranexamic acid appears no more effective than placebo in reducing the need for blood transfusion or preventing maternal death in patients with increased risk for excessive bleeding because of cesarean delivery, according to a study published in NEJM. Tranexamic acid slows the natural breakdown of blood clots and was considered promising for reducing the risk of excessive bleeding after giving birth-known as postpartum hemorrhage-after cesarean delivery.

In addition, patients who received tranexamic acid had slightly less need for additional medical or surgical interventions to treat postpartum hemorrhage and a slightly lower drop in red blood cell count.

Reference:

Pacheco LD, et al. Tranexamic acid to prevent obstetrical hemorrhage after cesarean delivery. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2023.