Norbert Gattermann,
Carlo Finelli,
Matteo Della Porta,
Pierre Fenaux,
Michael Stadler,
Agnes Guerci-Bresler,
Mathias Schmid,
Kerry Taylor,
Dominique Vassilieff,
Dany Habr, Andrea Marcellari,
Bernard Roubert,
Christian Rose
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ABSTRACT: Background Reductions in transfusion requirements/improvements in hematologic parameters have been associated with iron chelation therapy in transfusion-dependent patients, including those with myelodysplastic syndromes; data on there reductions/improvements have been limited to case reports and small studies. DESIGN AND METHODS: To explore this observation in a large population of patients, we report a post-hoc analysis evaluating hematologic response to deferasirox in a cohort of iron-overloaded patients with myelodysplastic syndromes enrolled in the Evaluation of Patients' Iron Chelation with Exjade(®) (EPIC) study using International Working Group 2006 criteria. RESULTS: Two-hundred and forty-seven, 100 and 50 patients without concomitant medication for myelodysplastic syndromes were eligible for analysis of erythroid, platelet and neutrophil responses, respectively. Erythroid, platelet and neutrophil responses were observed in 21.5% (53/247), 13.0% (13/100) and 22.0% (11/50) of the patients after a median of 109, 169 and 226 days, respectively. Median serum ferritin reductions were greater in hematologic responders compared with non-responders at end of study, although these differences were not statistically significant. A reduction in labile plasma iron to less than 0.4 μmol/L was observed from week 12 onwards; this change did not differ between hematologic responders and non-responders. Conclusions This analysis suggests that deferasirox treatment for up to 1 year could lead to improvement in hematologic parameters in some patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.
Haematologica 03/2012; 97(9):1364-71. · 6.42 Impact Factor
