What is the perception and view of the treatment options for immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) from the patients' perspective, what do they fear, what approaches do they prefer, and why? Lozano et al. included a discussion on this topic in their review article for Expert Review of Hematology, which can be helpful in clinical practice for better understanding patients' needs and adjusting treatment algorithms.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor disease in women, and its incidence sharply increases after the age of 50. Although its incidence shows a continuously increasing trend, the development of mortality is more favorable. Thanks to nationwide screening and more successful therapy, mortality has long been stable, even slightly decreasing. A relatively rare variant of this oncological disease is primary synchronously detected bilateral breast cancer (PSBBC). Experts from the Proton Therapy Center in Prague are focusing on the use of proton radiotherapy in the treatment of this clinical entity.

Ubiquitous and increasingly common obesity is a risk factor for many cancers. Over the past 20 years, studies have linked obesity to higher incidences of breast and colorectal cancers, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). What is the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in this patient population, and does it differ from patients with liver cancers caused by viral infection or alcohol abuse? This intrigued a team of researchers from Melbourne, Australia.

Micronutrients are a key nutritional component, and this is also true for patients whose condition requires the administration of parenteral nutrition. An article published last year in the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition summarizes the expert literature on this topic as well as current guidelines and addresses 14 clinically most relevant questions related to the importance, administration, and monitoring of micronutrients.

Study results suggest that the use of low molecular weight heparins during pregnancy could lead to better outcomes for women with thrombophilia and recurrent miscarriages. A group of authors from Israel compared the differences in efficacy when administering two different doses of enoxaparin to women with hereditary thrombophilia and a history of two or more spontaneous miscarriages or one fetal death without obvious cause.

Patients with schizophrenia have a higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases compared to the general population, which is further increased by certain antipsychotics. A recently published post hoc analysis assessed, among other things, the metabolic parameters of patients who switched from risperidone therapy to lurasidone.

What is the importance of prophylaxis in 'non-severe' hemophilia A? Italian doctors have attempted to answer this question in their recent expert consensus.

The goal of gene therapy for hemophilia A is to safely transfer stable and durable expression of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII), which predictably improves the bleeding phenotype at the lowest possible vector dose. Updated data from a study examining the use of the adeno-associated viral vector (AAV) SPK-8011 were presented during the virtual congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) 2021.

Standards of care for critically ill patients recommend enteral nutrition for those on mechanical ventilation. A recently published study addressed the question of how to identify patients at risk of enteral nutrition intolerance (ENI) and how to subsequently prevent this intolerance, which may be associated with worse clinical outcomes.

The aging population of individuals with hemophilia brings new experiences and challenges, leading to the search for the safest and most effective treatments and prevention strategies for diseases typical of older age, particularly cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. It is important to recognize that these complications pose a real risk for individuals with hemophilia, a risk that has thus far been somewhat underestimated.

The cold test is used to experimentally induce acute pain –⁠ it can thus be used, for example, to test the efficacy of analgesics. The authors of a recently published German study evaluated the analgesic effect and tolerability of metamizole compared to opioid analgesics using this method. They were led by the fact that although the drug has proven clinical efficacy and safety, it has not yet been tested using this procedure, unlike opioids.

The last decade has been marked by the emergence of new, as well as re-emerging human pathogens responsible for various infectious diseases. Viruses, especially those of zoonotic origin that originate in the wild, are demanding significant attention—and rightly so. This group of viruses currently accounts for 70% of infectious diseases in the human population, with many using animal organisms as vectors (e.g., ticks, mosquitoes) to transport and infect the human body. Human-vector interactions are becoming increasingly common, particularly due to ongoing urbanization, encroachment into previously uninhabited areas, population migration, increasing travel, shrinking distances, and climate change. In the following text, we will look at some specific examples.

Is it time to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) without chemotherapy? The authors of a recently published article in the Expert Review of Hematology journal attempted to answer this question.

The position of metformin has changed in the guidelines for the treatment of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in individuals with cardiovascular (CV) disease, issued by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in 2019. The 2019 EASD recommendations differ somewhat, thus we provide the following updated summary.