Biosimilar epoetin in elderly patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes improves anemia, quality of life, and brain function

The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of clonal hematopoietic disorders characterized by bone marrow failure and a risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Anemia affects the course of disease, quality of life (QOL), and cognitive function of MDS patients. Erythroid-stimulating...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of hematology 2014-09, Vol.93 (9), p.1523-1529
Main Authors: Castelli, Roberto, Deliliers, Giorgio Lambertenghi, Colombo, Riccardo, Moreo, Guido, Gallipoli, Paolo, Pantaleo, Giuseppe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Anemia - drug therapy
Anemia - etiology
Biosimilar Pharmaceuticals - pharmacology
Biosimilar Pharmaceuticals - therapeutic use
Brain - drug effects
Brain - physiology
Epoetin Alfa
Erythropoietin - pharmacology
Erythropoietin - therapeutic use
Female
Hematology
Humans
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute - prevention & control
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Myelodysplastic syndromes
Myelodysplastic Syndromes - complications
Myelodysplastic Syndromes - drug therapy
Oncology
Original Article
Quality of Life
Recombinant Proteins - pharmacology
Recombinant Proteins - therapeutic use
Retrospective Studies
Risk
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of clonal hematopoietic disorders characterized by bone marrow failure and a risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Anemia affects the course of disease, quality of life (QOL), and cognitive function of MDS patients. Erythroid-stimulating agents (ESAs) are effective; however, not all patients respond to ESAs. To evaluate the effectiveness of a biosimilar epoetin α (Binocrit) for the treatment of anemia in low-/intermediate-1 risk MDS patients and to evaluate the impact of ESAs on QOL and on cognitive function, 24 consecutive patients aged over 65 years were treated with Binocrit at 40,000 IU once a week for 12 weeks and were followed for at least 3 months. Responsive patients continued with 40,000 IU once a week for a further 12 weeks. Changes in QOL were assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Anemia (FACT-An), while cognitive assessment was carried out by mini-mental state examination (MMSE). All patients completed 12 weeks of therapy. Sixteen patients (66.67 %) achieved an erythroid response (ER), 15 patients (62.5 %) became transfusion independent and remained free from transfusion requirement for at least 3 months, while two patients had reduction in transfusion requirement of at least four RBC transfusions/8 weeks compared with the pretreatment transfusion requirement. Seven patients were nonresponders (29.1 %), of whom four patients were low risk and three intermediate-I risk. Seven transfusion-independent patients were low risk, and eight were intermediate-1 risk. Median hemoglobin (Hb) values were significantly higher after treatment in responders ( p  
ISSN:0939-5555
1432-0584
DOI:10.1007/s00277-014-2070-8