Hi Linda,
Very uncommon that they write about the prognosis in the bone marrow biopsy lab report - I have never read about that before. As we all know it is almost impossible to tell about the prognosis for an individual patient only by looking at the BMB because age, other diseases and so on have an impact on the prognosis besides response to drugs.
I think your doctor is right when he suggests Vidaza for 8 cycles before you try something else. Here is a study that shows the times to response can be quite long:
“Time to Response
In all three studies, the median number of cycles from the first treatment with azacitidine (Vidaza) to any response (Complete Response, Partial Response, or Hematological Improvement) was three cycles (range, one to 17 cycles). Although 75% of the responders achieved a response by cycle 4, the other 25% achieved a response as late as cycle 17. The majority of responders (90%) achieved a response by cycle 6.”
http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/24/24/3895.full
Al's counts are very good with stable HGB and WBCs
. Platelets above 30 are supposed to be quite safe without risk for bleedings.
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
71 yo, dx MDS RCMD Int-1 with 2 chromosome aberrations May 2006, transfusion dependent, Desferal and Exjade for iron overload, Neupogen 3 injections/week for low WBCs, Thalidomide and Prednisone since June 2010 for bone marrow fibrosis with a platelet count of 22 (last count 63)