cytarabine

[wall1057]

Three rounds of low dose cytarabine and my 80 year old mother is now in complete remission after vidaza failure!

[billyb]

What were her counts: WBC, RBC, Hemo, Hema, Platelets and Liver enzimes and was she transfusion dependent, we are thinking about trying the same treatment

[billyb]

Sorry I got really excited when I seen your post congratulations that's great news

[Birgitta-A]

Hi wall1057,
Woderful with such a positve response to Cyrarabine!
Kind regards
Birgitta-A

[wall1057]

What were her counts: WBC, RBC, Hemo, Hema, Platelets and Liver enzimes and was she transfusion dependent, we are thinking about trying the same treatment

I am not sure what her counts were when she started but they were low. After her first round, she ended up in the hospital with neutropenic fever for 8 days. That was the last time she was transfused. Her counts started coming up before she left the hospital. Her doctor at MDA told her after her last bone marrow that there is no evidence of the disease. He called it a complete remission. She was completely transfusion dependent until 1 round of cytarabine. She just finished her 4th. She is back living by herself at her home by the grace of God.
He guided us to these brilliant doctors who were willing to work with her and not just "make her comfortable as possible." She would not be alive today if we had not changed doctors. Frightening to think that a doctor would automatically assume she could not stand the treatment because she is 80. She has always had more energy than me and in no way wanted to give up. It just really saddens me that some people do not have family to advocate for them and have to take the word of these kind of doctors.

[Whizbang]

found this:

http://www.mdsbeacon.com/news/2012/05/22/velcade-bortezomib-cytarabine-combination-shows-promise-for-certain-higher-risk-mds-patients/

By Jessica Langholtz
Published: May 22, 2012 11:35 am

According to a recent Phase 1/2 study conducted in Europe, the combination of Velcade and cytarabine may be effective and safe in higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients who have not been previously treated.

In addition, the combination showed activity in patients with unfavorable chromosomal abnormalities. Specifically, 13 percent of these patients responded, which the investigators describe as notable, since no patients with these types of chromosomal abnormalities responded in previous studies testing cytarabine alone.

...

For more information, see the study in the British Journal of Haematology (abstract).

[Neil Cuadra]

There's a "..." in the previous post because The MDS Beacon does not want entire articles copied onto other websites like ours. Posting an excerpt is fine. People who are interested can click the link for the full article.