We encourage you to read the next two issues of the journal „Postępów Nauk Medycznych” all of which will be devoted to hematology and bone marrow transplantation. In the last few years we have witnessed the great progress in the knowledge and understanding of pathogenetic mechanisms of many blood cancers and what directly related- the development of new therapeutic options.

I wish to draw your attention for the original paper presenting the results of AHSCT for T-cell lymphoma. The authors collected large group of patients suffering from this rare, poor prognosed lymphoma. The results are encouraging with the estimated 3-year survival of almost 80%.

The yearly number of allogeneic stem cell transplantations (AlloHSCT) from siblings and unrelated donors performed in our Department belongs to the highest in Poland and Europe. I would like to remind you that AlloHSCT still remains only curative method in many neoplastic and benign hematological disorders. The progress made in the care of patients both, before and after transplant resulted in significant decrease of transplant related mortality. In the recent years we have witnessed the increase in the number of transplants performed in older patient population (> 65 years) what is associated with the development of reduced intensity conditioning.

You can specify the undisputed breakthrough the discovery and introduction the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor of BCR-ABL- imatinib to daily clinical practice for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. Its use has changed dramatically the prognosis as well as quality of patients life. The criteria for allogeneic stem cell transplantation were therefore limited. Since that time, based on the results of many clinical trials with imatinib, new response criteria were developed as well as the second generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors- dasatinib and nilotinib- were placed on the market. This issue was devoted one of the review paper in PNM. The authors present the current knowledge and indications for use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in varius clinical situations.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia accounts for about 30% of all leukemias. The article presents current prognostic factors including the results of genetic studies and delineates the schema of therapeutic procedures.

Another review paper I wish to draw your attention was devoted to BCR-ABL-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms. The discovery of JAK2 point mutation in 2004 contributed to the better knowledge of the molecular basis of myeloproliferative neoplasms and simplified the diagnostic criteria. The paper describes pathogenetic mechanisms, current risk factors and therapeutic management.

The significant proportion of the current journal was devoted to myelodysplastic syndrome The great progress in the understanding of pathogenetic mechanisms has been observed in the recent years. The presented papers summarize the current knowledge and focus on the achievements of the recent years. The diagnostic criteria as well as the prospects of further developments in this field were discussed.

We hope that the issues selected by us meet your expectations. I strongly encourage you to read this issue of the journal.