Bone marrow infiltration (BMI), categorized as an extra‐nodal site, affects stage and is associated with poor prognosis in newly diagnosed lymphoma patients. We have evaluated the accuracy of PET/CT and bone marrow biopsy (BMB) to assess BMI in 372 lymphoma patients [140 Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) and 232 High Grade B‐cell non‐Hodgkin Lymphoma (HG B‐NHL), among them 155 Diffuse Large B‐Cell Lymphoma (DLCL)]. For HL cases, and taking into account PET/CT, sensitivity, negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy were 96.7, 99.3, and 99.3% while those of BMB were 32.3, 83.8, and 85%, respectively. For HG B‐NHL and considering PET/CT, sensitivity, NPV, and accuracy were 52.7, 81.7, and 84.1%, while those of BMB were 77.6, 90.2, and 90.7%, respectively. In the HG B‐NHL group, 25 patients would have been under‐staged without BMB. These results lead us to recommend PET/CT and the avoidance of BMB to assess BMI in HL. In the case of HG B‐NHL, bone marrow status should be assessed firstly by means of PET/CT; only in either focal or diffuse PET/CT with low borderline SUV max values or in negative cases, should BMB be carried out afterwards. In the HG B‐NHL setting and at the present moment, both techniques are complementary. Am. J. Hematol. 90:686–690, 2015.

Although visceral leishmaniasis is often fatal in the developing world, Leishmania-attributable deaths in Europe are relatively rare and nowadays almost always linked to HIV infection. In Spain, however, a HIV-negative man with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and prednisone treatment was recently hospitalized because of hypotension and asthenia. Although the patient was afebrile, a bone-marrow aspirate, collected after thrombo- and leuco-cytopenia had been observed, was found to contain huge numbers of amastigotes. A course of antileishmanial treatment with meglumine antimoniate was initiated but the patient went into refractory shock and died within 6 h. The significance of this case, in terms of the routine investigation and treatment of immunosuppressed patients who may have leishmaniasis, is discussed.

The game-changing outcome effect, due to the generalized use of novel agents in MM, has cre-ated a paradigm shift. Achieving frequent deep responses has placed MM among those neoplasms where the rationale for assessing MRD is fulfilled. However, its implementation in MM has raised specific questions: how might we weight standard measures against deep MRD in the emerging CAR-T setting? Which high sensitivity method to choose? Are current response criteria still useful? In this work, we address lessons learned from the use of MRD in other neoplasms, the steps followed for the harmonization of current methods for comprehensively measuring MRD, and the challenges that new therapies and concepts pose in the MM clinical field.

Backgound: In the workup of follicular lymphoma (FL), bone marrow biopsy (BMB) assessment is a key component of FLIPI and FLIPI2, the most widely used outcome scores. During the previous decade, several studies explored the role of FDG‐PET/CT for detecting nodal and extranodal disease, with only one large study comparing both techniques.Methods: The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and the prognostic impact of both procedures in a retrospective cohort of 299 FL patients with both tests performed at diagnosis. In order to avoid a collinearity bias, FLIPI2 was deconstructed in its founding parameters, and the bone marrow involvement (BMI) parameter separately included as: a positive BMB, a positive PET/CT, the combined “PET/CT and BMB positive” or “PET/CT or BMB positive”. These variables were also confronted independently with the POD24 in 233 patients treated with intensive regimens.Results: In the total cohort, bone marrow was involved in 124 and 60 patients by BMB and PET/CT, respectively. In terms of overall survival, age > 60 y.o. and the combined “PET/CT or BMB positive” achieved statistical independence as a prognostic factor. In patients treated with an intensive regimen, only the combined “PET/CT or BMB positive” added prognostic value for a shorter overall survival, when confronted with the POD24.Conclusion: Our results show that in FL both BMB and PET/CT should be considered at diagnosis, as their combined assessment provides independent prognostic value in the context of the most widely use clinical scores.

Background: Assessment of bone marrow infiltration (BMI) is part of the initial staging of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), although BMI evaluated by biopsy (BMB) is not considered significant in the MIPI scales, and standardized recommendations remain lacking. Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy and prognostic impact of BMI assessed by PET/CT and BMB in a large series of MCL patients. Methods: We deconstructed the IPI-NCCN, MIPI, and MIPI-c indices and considered BMI as positive if indicated by a BMB, PET/CT scan, or a combination of both. Results: In the total cohort (n = 148), 110 patients had BMI detected by BMB and 33 by PET/CT. The sensitivity of BMB was higher than that of PET/CT (94.8% vs. 28.4%), as were its negative predictive value (84.2% vs. 27.8%) and accuracy (95.9% vs. 43.9%). In the total cohort, BMI detected by PET/CT showed a significant predictive value for PFS (p = 0.027), while BMB demonstrated independent prognostic value only in combination with PET/CT (p = 0.025). Among intensively treated patients (n = 128), PET/CT had significant clinical impact on PFS (p = 0.030), and when combined with BMB, it provided independent prognostic value for both PFS and OS (p = 0.026 and p = 0.033, respectively). Based on these findings, we propose a prognostic model (MCL-PET-I) that incorporates BMI by PET/CT, allowing for the identification of three groups with distinct clinical outcomes (p < 0.0001 for PFS and p = 0.00025 for OS). Conclusions: In the upfront work of MCL, PET/CT-based BMI has greater prognostic impact, while BMB remains essential for staging. We propose the MCL-PET-I prognostic index, which effectively differentiates between clinical risk groups.