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Factors influencing nonleukemic death in refractory anemia, refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts, and refractory anemia with excess of blasts.

The association between nonleukemic death and various features recorded at presentation in patients with refractory anemia (RA), RA with ring sideroblasts, and RA with excess of blasts was analyzed in 251 patients using the proportional hazards model. Features associated with higher nonleukemic death rates were: 1% or more metamyelocytes in peripheral blood (PB); lower 59Fe incorporation rate; 1% or more blasts in PB; lower hematocrit or hemoglobin; presence of giant platelets; 1 microgram/liter or higher serum vitamin B12 levels; higher periodic acid-Schiff positive erythroblasts; and 1% or higher promyelocytes in PB. Multivariate analysis was also performed using the following predictor variables: metamyelocytes in PB, micromegakaryocytes, hemoglobin, giant platelets, presence or absence of RA with excess of blasts, and mononuclear large megakaryocytes. Patients were divided arbitrarily into low (hazard ratio, less than 0.55), intermediate (hazard ratio, 0.55-1.5), and high (hazard ratio, greater than 1.5) risk groups. The cumulative nonleukemic death rates in the high and intermediate risk groups reached a median at 602 and 1984 days from presentation, respectively, while the rate reached a plateau level of 49.4% after 2644 days in the low risk group. The risk factors for leukemic transformation and nonleukemic death were found to be different and to need separate consideration.

Anemia, Refractory

Cytogenic characterization of primary refractory anemia.

Refractory anemia (RA) is the only myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) devoid of quantitative marrow diagnostic criteria. The diagnosis rests mainly on the subjective identification of qualitative abnormalities according to the French-American-British criteria (FAB) involving one or more bone marrow hematopoietic cell lineages. The occurrence of nonrandom chromosome abnormalities remains the hallmark of the disease and the only means of investigation which confirms the disease objectively. With the purpose in mind to further characterize RA among MDS, we have undertaken a prospective high resolution banding chromosome analyses of bone marrow cells in patients with primary refractory anemia (PRA) with the aim of defining a cytogenetic phenotype and of assessing the clinical relevance of clonal abnormalities at initial diagnosis. Of 39 patients consecutively referred for chromosome analyses with a diagnosis of RA according to the FAB criteria, 27 patients had PRA and fulfilled our criteria for adequate chromosome analyses. Median age was 68 years. Fourteen of 27 patients (52%) had clonal chromosomal abnormalities at diagnosis. None of the patients showed a complex karyotype; 9/14 (64%) had a mixture of normal and abnormal cells. Interstitial or terminal deletions, involving chromosomes 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 20, were found in 11/14 (79%) of the patients. Comparison of survival between patients with and without abnormalities showed no difference. The presence of clonal abnormalities did not predict transformation to acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) nor was it associated with poor survival. In this study, patients with PRA were found to have a predominant pseudodiploid karyotypic pattern characterized by interstitial and/or terminal deletions as opposed to derivatives, specific and non-specific balanced translocations, or other structural and numerical abnormalities. We were unable to reveal any prognostic significance to the presence of these clonal abnormalities at initial diagnosis.

Adult

[Clinical application of retinoic acid and vitamin D3 derivatives to the treatment of refractory anemias].

Refractory anemias and the myelodysplastic syndromes are a group of hematopoietic stem cell disorders characterized by ineffective and dysplastic hematopoiesis, leading to persistent peripheral cytopenias. Patients also have an increased risk of transformation to acute myelogenous leukemia. Since defective cellular maturation is the central pathogenetic feature, improved differentiation may result in correction of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. Clinical trials using retinoic acid and vitamin D3 analogues are not satisfactory and only small numbers of patients may benefit from receiving them. In view of the absence of other effective treatment, future studies should be directed to the combined use of differentiating agents with hematopoietic growth factors and to the identification of new compounds with greater differentiating ability and less toxicity.

Adult

Clinical contribution to the knowledge of hemopoietic dysplasias: long-term follow-up of 13 patients with refractory anemia.

Refractory anemia (RA) is an hematologic disorder at risk of developing into a malignancy (hemopoietic dysplasia). Information on hemopoietic dysplasias is useful for sharpening the appropriate diagnostic criteria and for the search of an appropriate therapy. Moreover, hemopoietic dysplasias provide an interesting opportunity, in humans, for studying a developing leukemia, or a disease situated at the boundary of leukemia. This paper reports on the evolution of RA in 13 patients followed up more than 2 years, through clinical observation, blood and marrow examination, and karyotype analysis. 4 of these 13 patients developed acute or subacute myeloid leukemia. An additional patient died because of severe thrombocytopenia. In these 5 patients, dyserythropoiesis was accompanied by thrombocytopenia, marrow myeloblastosis, and nonrandom chromosome abnormalities.

Aged

Effect of subcutaneous deferoxamine and oral vitamin C on iron excretion in congenital hypoplastic anemia and refractory anemia associated with the 5q-syndrome.

Chronic refractory anemia associated with congenital hypoplastic anemia (CHA, Blackfan-Diamond syndrome) and with the 5q-syndrome may require chronic transfusion therapy to sustain life. Hemosiderosis and death from chronic iron overload may result from such a program. The effect of subcutaneous (SC) deferoxamine (DF) and supplemental oral vitamin C (vit. C) on urinary iron excretion was studied in two patients with congenital hypoplastic anemia and one patient with 5q-syndrome. In the two patients with CHA, urinary iron excretion in response to DF given SC over 24 hours was comparable to the results following intravenous (I.V.) administration. Both of these cases had low levels of plasma ascorbate on initial evaluation and excreted more iron in response to two different doses of DF after they had received supplemental vit C and their stores were repleted. Significant iron excretion occurred in all three patients for 12 hours during the SC infusion of DF and for 12 hours after the end of the infusion. In all three patients, increasing the dose of DF up to 3-4 g given SC over 12 hours resulted in a linear increase in iron excretion. Once normal body stores of ascorbate were achieved by oral supplementation, increasing doses of vit C did not appear to cause a further increment in iron excretion. DF administered by a slow SC infusion appears to be an effective approach to iron overload in patients with refractory anemia and hemosiderosis secondary to chronic transfusions. Only small amounts of supplemental vit. C necessary to sustain adequate body stores are required for optimal iron excretion.

Administration, Oral

Trilineage recovery by combination therapy with recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and erythropoietin in patients with aplastic anemia and refractory anemia.

Ten patients with aplastic anemia (AA) and seven patients with refractory anemia (RA) were treated with recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) and erythropoietin (rhEpo) in combination. rhG-CSF (5-20 micrograms/kg) and rhEpo (120-720 U/kg) were administered by s.c. injection three times a week for at least six months, and the administration was continued as maintenance therapy for as long as possible when hematological responses were observed. Six (60%) of the ten AA patients and four (58%) of the seven RA patients showed multilineage responses. Of these responders, six patients achieved trilineage recovery. While all of the responders were dependent on red blood cell transfusions and eight of them required platelet transfusions before treatment, they now no longer need transfusions of either red blood cells or platelets. A median treatment duration of 9 (range 1 to 28) months was required to achieve multilineage recovery. The responders showed an ability to maintain the multilineage recovery for 9+ to 47+ months and to tolerate long-term treatment. These results indicate that the long-term treatment with rhG-CSF and rhEpo may benefit a substantial percentage of patients with AA and RA and provide an optional therapy for these patients.

Adolescent

Ultrastructure of platelet aggregation in refractory anemia and myelomonocytic leukemia. I. Ultrastructure of aggregation in normal controls and general defects in refractory anemia and myelomonocytic leukemia.

In vitro aggregation of the platelets from four patients with refractory anemia and two patients with acute myelomonocyctic leukemia revealed distinctive abnormalities. In five patients, there was deficient or minimal aggregation with adenosine diphosphate (ADP), epinephrine, or collagen and only one wave of aggregation could be elicited with ADP at any concentration. Ultrastructural studies revealed numerous isolated platelets, small aggregates with few platelet pseudopods, and the presence of a characteristic type of aggregate with heterogeneous platelet composition combining features of both the primary and the secondary waves of aggregation. These "mixed aggregates" were particularly abundant in the four patients who had refractory anemia and may constitute the structural basis of the single wave of aggregation observed.

Adenosine Diphosphate

Refractory anemia with excess of blast cells: prognostic factors and effect of treatment with androgens or cytosine arabinoside. Results of a prospective trial in 58 patients. Cooperative Group for the Study of Aplastic and Refractory Anemias.

The results of a prospective study of 58 patients with refractory anemia and partial blastic infiltration of the bone marrow lead to the following conclusions. The median survival (12 months from diagnosis) is shorter and the rate of acute leukemia as cause of death (60%) higher than in other retrospective series. This group of patients, however, appears to be a "continuum" of preleukemic states with more or less rapid evolution, so that the exclusion of the most severe cases appears unjustified. Based on the degree of bone marrow blastosis, and also on the degree of blood cytopenias, the anomalies of 59 Fe incorporation kinetics and the bone marrow stem-cell cultures, it is possible to derive a plausible prognosis for individual patients, which could aid the choice of therapy. Androgen therapy does not accelerate leukemic evolution, but does not improve the bone marrow insufficiency. Cytosine-arabinoside at low dosage exhibited no toxicity, but did not delay the appearance of overt leukemia.

Acute Disease

Association of 5q- and refractory anemia.

The association of refractory anemia with partial deletion of the long arm of one No. 5 chromosome (5q-) has been reported in six patients within the last two years. We wish to report an additional patient with refractory anemia and an acquired chromosomal deletion, del(5)(q15), in a direct bone-moarrow preparation. The specificity of this deletion for refractory anemia is discussed. It remains to be seen whether patients with refractory anemia and 5q- tend to develop acute leukemia, as has been recently suggested.

Acute Disease

Studies on the pathogenesis of refractory anemia.

Nine patients with refractory anemia were studied using the soft agar marrow culture assay (CFU-c) to identify granulocyte-monocyte progenitor cells. Patients' marrows were then cocultured with normal marrow to identify suppressor cells that inhibit normal colony formation. Three of nine patients had low colony formation and no suppression in coculture. These patients may have a defect intrinsic to the marrow granulocyte-monocyte progenitor cell, termed type I. Three of nine patients had normal colony formation and no suppression in coculture, possibly representing a type II defect in the hemopoietic environment. Three of nine patients had low colony formation in the CFU-c assay and their marrow contained cells that suppressed colony formation by normal marrow in coculture. This defect, termed type III, may result from suppressor cells. Thus, refractory anemia may be a syndrome resulting from at least three different pathogenetic mechanisms involving defects in (1) stem cells, (2) the marrow environment or (3) suppressor cells. This may represent one end of the spectrum of pancytopenia with diminished cellularity (aplastic anemia) or normal cellularity (refractory anemia) resulting from similar mechanisms.

Adult

Refractory anemia.

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Anemia, Refractory

[A case of refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) having weakened expression of B blood group antigen].

A 52 year-old male was admitted to our hospital with the complaint of the hypochondrial pain after meal in February 1989. He was diagnosed to be RAEB and to have common bile duct stone. His red blood cells (RBC) could not be agglutinated with anti-A, anti-B, or anti-A, B. The agglutinability of the cells to Ulex europaeus (anti-H) was the same to the normal type B RBC, and his serum contained anti-I, anti-E, and anti-c. In his saliva, both B and H antigens were detected. The glycosyl B transferase in his serum showed similar activity to that of normal individual with type B RBC. When his RBC were treated with normal type B transferase, the cells obtained the reactivity to anti-B but they agglutinated much weaker than the type O cells treated with the enzyme. These results indicated that the low agglutinability of his RBC could not be due to the low transferase activity but the qualitative or quantitative changes of the precursor molecules of the type B substance of the cells.

ABO Blood-Group System

[Therapy of the preleukemic state: effect of androgens on refractory anemia].

We have examined the efficacy of various drugs in 44 patients with MDS and found the different effectiveness which depends on the type of MDS. Namely, RA appears to respond to steroid hormone, androgen, and/or vitamin D3, regardless of single or combined use. In particular, it is obvious in androgen, and as our previous reports, high content of acidic ferritin in RBC with RA have changed to more basic ones by treatment with androgen. On the contrary, these drugs were not effective on RAEB, RAEB-T, and CMML. A long-term observation is needed to determine whether the prolonged or decreased occurrence of leukemia could be obtained in the effective cases with RA. Most of the cases who did not develop overt leukemia during this study died of bleeding or infections due to thrombocytopenia or leukocytopenia, thus indicating that supportive therapies are important in patients with MDS. Since it has recently been reported that recombinant G-CSF or GM-CSF is helpful to increase the number of leucocyte and to enhance their functional recovery in MDS, these factors may be powerful agents against infections when they are carefully used with regard to the activation of leukemic clones.

Adult