Sustained resolution of anemia without any treatment after excessive therapeutic response to human recombinant erythropoietin in three patients with myelodysplastic syndromes

摘要

Consistent advances in the management of anemia in low-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) have been provided by human recombinant erythropoietin (Hu-Epo) [1-3]. In such a setting, the correction of anemia and the reduction of the transfusion burden remain the most important goals of treatment [4]. However, the advanced age, the burden of multiple and often coexisting comorbidities [5-9], as well as several functional, physical, and sometimes social limitations of daily life activities [10, 11], make quality of life (QoL) a key objective for the global management of this patient population [1, 5-7]. Despite the improvement of transfusion support [4] and the reduction of iron overload [12,13], several aspects regarding the negative impact of transfusion in the patient's QoL and disease outcome remain still unresolved [14].