Low dose cytosine arabinoside in refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation

✍ Scribed by Fridrik, M. A. ;Wahl, G. ;Herbinger, W.

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1988
• Weight: 352 KB
• Volume: 57
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1432-0584
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00320758

✦ Synopsis

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are heterogeneous diseases. Patients with blast counts of more than 20% of nucleated bone marrow cells have a high risk of short survival. We treated six patients with refractory anemia with excess of blast in transformation (RAEBiT) with low dose cytosine arabinoside (LD Ara-C). We had one partial remission (PR), surviving 16 weeks and two complete remissions (CR), surviving 22 and 55+ months. Myelosuppression was dominant in all patients, but was not as serious as with conventional remission-induction treatments for leukemias. Bone marrow aplasia occurred in all responding patients, but a differentiation effect is possible too. Maintenance therapy with LD Ara-C may be important for the two long-lasting CR.