title: Late hematological improvement of myelodysplastic syndrome following treatment with 5-azacitidine therapy.
abstract: Recently, 5-azacitidine has been reported to improve the survival of patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and was approved for the treatment of MDS in Japan. We herein report a case of high-risk MDS in which the patient exhibited a hematological improvement three months after the first cycle of 5-azacitidine therapy. The second cycle of 5-azacitidine was not administered due to a severe pulmonary infection. Bone marrow aspiration revealed a decrease in the level of blast cells from 7.0% to 0.7%, and the subclassification of MDS improved from refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB)-1 to refractory cytopenia with unilineage dysplasia. This case demonstrates a possible late effect of 5-azacitidine treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, NTT Medical Center Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takaoka
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hangaishi
authors.forename: Ayumu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morioka
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kida
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Usuki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001374:Azacitidine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000473:pathology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000473:pathology*; D010976:Platelet Count
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D006454:Hemoglobins; D001374:Azacitidine