Multiple myeloma (MM), a proliferation (growth) of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow destroying bones, accounts for 10% of all hematologic malignancies. Approximately 45.000 new cases are diagnosed each year together in the US and Europe. MM is mainly a disease of elderly people with age at diagnosis between 65-70 years.

The dramatic improvement in outcome for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is one of the major achievements in hematology in the last 40 years. However, while 90% of children with this disease can now be cured, the outlook has not been so good for the less common type of childhood leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Although only 1 in 7 children with leukemia have AML, half of these children will die from their disease. The challenge now is to harness the new developments in genomics to improve the outcome for these children.

Blood cancers (leukemias) are life-threatening diseases that can devastate the lives of patients and their families. Great progress has been made in treatments to improve the survival of these otherwise invariably fatal conditions. Major advances in the understanding of leukemia genetics for genome sequencing of individual patients has taken us one step further towards realizing personalized medicine for many patients.

The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) partners with thrombosis related organizations from every continent to launch World Thrombosis Day focused on single cause of top 3 cardiovascular deaths worldwide.

EHA endorses and supports the initiative for this World Thromobis Day.

The European Hematology Association is organizing its 19^th Congress in Milan, Italy- June 12-15, 2014.

Following last year’s successful introduction, the EHA congress program will be complemented by a dedicated advocacy track. This track combines all patient and policy related sessions into one comprehensive full-day program on Saturday.

The Board of the European Hematology Association (EHA) has the pleasure to cordially invite you, as a member of the press, to the 19th Congress of EHA.More than 9,500 participants from around the world are expected at the upcoming 19th Congress of the European Hematology Association at the MiCo - Milano Congressi in Milan, Italy from June 12-15, 2014.

Transfusion of erythrocytes is the most common form of cellular therapy. It rapidly restores the oxygen supply to the tissues in patients suffering from sudden blood loss, reduced erythrocyte production following for instance cytotoxic cancer treatment, or in patients suffering from chronic anemia due to congenital diseases such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia. Matching transfusions for ABO and Rh-D blood group antigens is in general sufficient for successful transfusion. However, over 300 additional blood group antigens are known, against which we do not normally generate antibodies, and that are not matched for in general transfusion practice.

Since 2010 the European Hematology Association (EHA) and the Wallace H Coulter Foundation (WHCF) have been in a close partnership, in which EHA was the beneficiary of generous donations for its projects. The support of the WHCF has been the prime mover for the setup of the EHA-ASH Translational Research Training in Hematology (TRTH) program and an important contributor towards the vast expansion of EHA’s outreach program. Both programs have had a major impact on the Association’s array of activities and global network.

The importance of the achievements of Wallace Coulter, the inventor of the Coulter Counter - the most valuable tool in the hematology laboratory, as a person and his organization cannot be underestimated for the hematological community as well as for EHA due to the Foundation’s support. EHA is glad to be able to pay tribute and commemorate the 100th birthday of Wallace Coulter.

This year the Scientific Working Group Session on hematopoietic stem cells will focus on the recent advance in the field of “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSC)”.

Iron deficiency anaemia continues to me the most common disease in the world, affecting millions of people, mostly women. Failure to find an underlying cause of iron deficiency and failure to respond to iron replacement often points to a completely different mechanism of anaemia which is usually congenital and surprisingly can lead to excess accumulation of iron and ill health.

Breaking news on Lymphoma (lymph node cancer) and Myeloma (plasma cell cancer) reported at meetings of Scientific Working Groups during the European Hematology Congress in Stockholm, June 13-16, 2013  

The introduction of a European Hematology Association-Theme of the Year in June 2012, focusing on Quality of Life (QoL) in Hematology, was successful in stimulating awareness, conference sessions, publications, and reports.

The conclusion, in June 2013, of this year’s theme includes two editorials in Haematologica entitled “Patients’ needs in hematology: whose perspectives?” and “Age and Aging in blood disorders: EHA Theme of the Year 2013-2014’’. The Scientific Working Group Quality of Life and Symptoms will organize a SWG Session “Implementation of treatment related patient-reported outcomes in routine clinical practice in hematological malignancies”. Although each theme of the year is introduced to highlight a certain topic in hematology, the themes will remain active. Therefore, Quality of Life will stay on the agenda.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) regenerate blood cells throughout the lifespan of an individual.  The HSC pool has to accommodate to the cellular stresses associated with its life-long activity. HSCs are protected in specific bone marrow areas called “niches”. New technologies allow the analysis of different bone marrow compartments and the functional implications on HSCs.  HSCs persist for a lifetime; there is a balance between their proliferation and their quiescent (sleeping) state. Therefore, the HSCs cell cycle is controlled by factors within and outside the cell.

The word ‘leukemia’ fills people with awe and foreboding. Things have changed, however, for the better. In children who have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) the cure rate is about 90%. In adults the story is not so good. The predominant type of leukemia in adults is Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and most patients are over 60 years of age. Although age was felt to be an important factor in the poor responses seen in adults, it is now clear that Acute Leukemia in older patients is a different disease which is intrinsically resistant to traditional chemotherapy.

To date, up to 80% of patients with the most common subtype of malignant lymphoma (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma), are cured of this aggressive disease by chemotherapy, in combination with the anti-lymphoma antibody Rituximab. Unfortunately, young patients with high risk disease and elderly patients fare much worse and there is an urgent need to improve their outcome. However, the past year has seen a significant increase in our knowledge of the biology of disease. Using gene expression profiling and other new molecular techniques, we are beginning to recognize/identify the disease driver pathways which make lymphoma cells continue to proliferate. These major advances will be extensively reported at the meeting.  The first results of clinical studies with new "smart molecules", such as lenalidomide, enzastaurin, bortezomib and ibrutinib, to mention a few, that specifically kill the cancer cells with only minimal damage to normal tissues/organs will be presented. So far, this modern "personalized medicine" approach appears to be promising, in particular for patients who only respond poorly to conventional treatment.