title: [Marked improvement of anemia during treatment with deferasirox in patients with primary myelofibrosis and acute myeloid leukemia with myelodysplasia-related changes].
abstract: We report two patients who achieved a marked improvement of hematopoiesis with the use of deferasirox (DSX) for transfusional iron overload. Case 1 is an 81-year-old male who was diagnosed with primary myelofibrosis in July, 2007. He required regular red blood cell (RBC) transfusion of 4 units/month when he was started on DSX treatment in June, 2009. Four months after the treatment, he became transfusion independent, and has maintained hemoglobin levels of around 13 g/dl until today. Case 2 is a 70-year-old female with acute myeloid leukemia with myelodysplasia-related changes. She had been on RBC transfusion of 4 units/month when she was started on DSX treatment in January, 2010. Two months after the treatment, she became transfusion-independent, and 5 months after treatment, blast cells completely disappeared in the peripheral blood, together with normalization of white blood cell and neutrophil counts. Achieving durable transfusion-independency and normalization of white blood cell count and differential with a single use of DSX is a very rare event. Prospective accumulation of more patients and research to understand the mechanism underlying these effects are clearly warranted.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Eri
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matsuki
authors.forename: Kimihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakaya
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamane
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okamoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001565:Benzoates / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000077588:Deferasirox; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D006801:Humans; D007502:Iron Chelating Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019190:Iron Overload / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D055728:Primary Myelofibrosis / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014230:Triazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D001565:Benzoates; D007502:Iron Chelating Agents; D014230:Triazoles; D000077588:Deferasirox