Benzene Leukemia Law Blog : Benzene and Leukemia Lawyer & Attorney : Burke & Eisner Law Firm : Benzene Exposure, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

This article discusses recent studies on the success of azacitidine (Vidaza®) treatment in reducing transfusion dependency, and increasing overall survival in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients.

Data presented at the 14th Congress of the European Society of Hematology demonstrate that treatment with azacitidine (Vidaza®) significantly extends overall survival and helps patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) become or remain red blood cell transfusion independent. Patients who benefited included those with higher-risk MDS or acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with 20-30% blasts, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The presentations at EHA this year continue to support the clinical benefit associated with Vidaza in MDS, including significantly extended overall survival...

Read the full article at ecancermedicalscience.com.

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At the recent annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, Florida, a coalition of cancer patient advocacy organizations led by The International Myeloma foundation (IMF), and the Myelodysplastic Syndromes Foundation (MDSF), brought to light a new "statement of principles" designed to aid cancer patients.

The statement called for equal insurance coverage, prevention research, continued innovation, early approvals, and expanded access to experimental drugs.

The principles were issued as follows:

• Prevention is the key to reducing the burden of cancer
• Continuing innovation is critical to early diagnosis and better treatment
• Equality of access to care is imperative
• Early approval of new treatments for deadly cancers is essential
• Patients who have exhausted approved therapies need simplified access to experimental agents whenever possible

“When patients are diagnosed with cancer, their concern should be managing their disease, not reimbursement for their treatments. Oral drugs should have the same coverage as hospital-based procedures; research and innovation must be encouraged and supported; and for fatal diseases, the criteria for drug approvals should emphasize expedited approval and ready access to them.”  - Kathy Heptinstall, BSN, RN, operating director and co-founder of the Myelodysplastic Syndromes Foundation

 

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A Chance to Save A Life

For those suffering from blood disorders caused by benzene exposure, such as aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and acute myelogenous leukemia, bone marrow stem cell transplants can be a life saving therapy. May is National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) month, is a great time to consider a life saving marrow donation. For the entire month the usual $52 fee for eligibility testing through the NMDP will be waived.  

Modern Marrow Donation

Patients in need of bone marrow transplants require the living stem cells found in healthy bone marrow. While bone marrow transplants of yesteryear involve minor surgery to remove marrow from the hip bones of a donor, today's procedure is far less invasive. The current method, peripheral blood stem cell donation, involves a shot which draws some of the needed stem cells out of the marrow and into the blood. The stem cells are then filtered from the blood. Though the procedure no longer involves actual bone marrow, most still call it a bone marrow donation.

Matching

The most likely match for a successful bone marrow stem cell transplant is a full brother or sister of the recipient.  Other family members, or even complete strangers may be a match.  The NMDP has a database of volunteers willing to donate their bone marrow to strangers. 

For more information on becoming a bone marrow stem cell donor visit the National Marrow Donor  Program website at: www.marrow.org/.

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The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a collection of clonally-derived hematopoietic disorders typified by peripheral blood cytopenias, transfusion-dependency, and in a subset of patients, increased likelihood of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML).¹,² This past decade has brought increased attention to MDS with the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of three MDS therapies, and a more complete understanding of these diseases on a molecular level. This year at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2007 annual meeting, presentations focused on the implications and management of MDS- and treatment-related cytopenias; results of clinical trials of hypomethylating agents, including the first prospectively-acquired survival data; and extension of the potential applicability of immunomodulatory drugs.

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A B.C. pilot project using free, Web mail-order cheek swab kits to recruit young and ethnically diverse bone marrow stem cell donors, is being deemed such a whopping success that it's now being rolled out across the country.

Ethnic groups are being targeted because 85 per cent of would-be donors in the bone marrow registry are Caucasian, which makes it highly difficult to find matches for ethnic patients. Younger donors are sought because they are the healthiest.

The national program follows a Canadian Blood Services (CBS) project over the past four months in B.C., during which cheek swab kits were mailed to those between the ages of 17 and 50 after they registered for them online.

The kits contain long sticks resembling Q-tips to scrape skin cells from the inside of cheeks. The kit is sent back to CBS in Ottawa; the individual's DNA is then extracted, typed and entered in a database.

Before the cheek swab kits were introduced, would-be donors had to go to a laboratory for a blood draw, a far more expensive, inconvenient process. Now the cheek swab kits will largely replace laboratory blood collection for DNA typing.

Source:  Canada.com

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