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Old Tue Apr 13, 2010, 12:15 PM
King Farouk King Farouk is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Kuwait
Posts: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Cuadra View Post
Since your dad still has low counts it would still be called bone marrow failure. But from your description the Vidaza treatments sound like a success. That's a huge drop from 27% blasts last October to 4% to 7% now.

It common with Vidaza that counts may get worse temporarily and that the interval between cycles may be longer as treatments continue, to give the body time to recover. So the delay before the 7th cycle isn't surprising and a delay before the 8th cycle might be appropriate too. That doesn't mean that Vidaza has stopped working, but the timetable has to be adjusted to gain the most benefit.

As patients and caregivers it's hard for us to second-guess the doctors but the more questions we ask the more we can understand what they recommend. Please let us know what you learn from this next biopsy.
As promised I am reporting the latest findings on my dad's case. The results of the new bone marrow biopsy indicate an increase in blast cells 20% and persistent Cytopenias as opposed to 7 % from the biopsy of Feb/10. The doctor is opting to switch to "Dacogen" and a myeloid growth factor. The little doubts start to appear on my head, weather the delay of the sixth cycle and the reduction of the dose of the seventh cycle has anything to do with that and if its an early judgment call to stop the Vidaza since it worked with great benefits for 6 cycles.

has anyone ran across a study where Dacogen is found to work after Vidaza since I understand the drugs somehow work the same and are used interchangeably ? I also read somewhere that Revelmid is also found to work in some cases even when -5q is not present. I wish I could convince the doctor to use them both but not sure if they counter each others effects.

I appreciate any shred thoughts and opinions on the matter.
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Farouk, 78 yrs, MDS RAEB-II, complex cytogenetics, Dx Aug/09, treated with Vidaza Sep/09 until present
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