Brussels – Hematologists at the Università Cattolica – Policlinico A. Gemelli in Rome found that smoking cigarettes, and doing drugs such as cocaine inhalation, and the exposure in the workplace of certain powders are risk factors that may aggravate the clinical picture of patients suffering from leukemia, especially of acute myeloid leukemia. There are all trailblazer factors for fungus infections, which can compromise the success of chemotherapy treatments. The discovery is the result of a study involving around 1192 patients treated in 35 Italian centers who had just received a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia. The work was published in the journal “Haematologica,” the official organ of the European society of Hematology, and was coordinated by Professor Livio Pagano, chief physician in the Department of Hematology of the Policlinico A. Gemelli in Rome. Fungal infections can delay the effects of leukemia treatments, with consequences for the patient’s prognosis. (9Colonne)
