|
Mo Sh,
The difficulties you have had with the drugs for your mother are very unfortunate.
We can assume that her doctor's recommendation to first try Vidaza was based on the evidence from research that shows that Vidaza (azacitidine) is the best choice treatment for many cases of high-risk MDS.
Dacogen (decitabine) works for some patients and is the alternative choice, also based on statistics from clinical trials and other research.
Cytarabine (ara-C) is more often used for other diseases or in transplant preparation, but the doctor had few choices when the other drugs became unavailable.
There is very little chance that any other patient has made exactly the same drug switches that your mother has made, giving doctors few if any statistics on which to base a recommendation. Doctors gain much of their knowledge from the experiences of previous patients in similar circumstances, studying results from when these drugs are used on specific schedules over many months. But there's probably nobody with circumstances just like your mother. I hope her doctor can help you determine whether she should return to Vidaza or Dacogen if she can get them. And if she can get one of them, I hope she can take it for the recommended length of time.
|