Antithymocyte globulin (ATG) has recently been popularized as an effective treatment in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). We treated 8 anemic MDS patients (refractory anemia [RA] and refractory anemia with excess blasts [RAEB-1]) with ATG (40 mg/kg/d for 4 days) and prednisone in a phase 2 trial. The study was stopped early according to a preset termination rule because of lack of efficacy. There...

Ollier's disease also known as enchondromatosis is a rare skeletal disorder that is usually sporadic, non-hereditary, and characterized by abnormal bone development (skeletal dysplasia). While this disorder may be present at birth (congenital); it may not become apparent until early childhood with more obvious symptoms, such as deformities or improper limb growth. It carries high risk of skelet...

We report the disappearance of cytogenetic abnormalities and hematologic recovery after immunosupressive therapy that included antithymocyte globlin (ATG) and cyclosporin A (CsA) in a patient with hypoplastic refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB). A 57-year-old man presented in June 1986 with pancytopenia. Complete blood count (CBC) showed a hemoglobin (Hb) concentration of 10 g/dL, a ...

Thirty three patients with refractory myelodysplastic anaemias (RMDA) with marrow hypocellularity were reviewed to see whether they differed from those with normocellular or hypercellular marrows. The median age was 65 years with a male:female ratio of 26:7. There were 11 cases of refractory anaemia (RA), four of refractory anaemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARS), and 18 of refractory anaemia w...

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 t...

The relationship between acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), and refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) and antibodies to human T-cell lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I and HTLV-II), and hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus (HCV) was investigated in a multicenter case-control study. There were 431 cases enrolled in the stu...

Within the past decade the World Health Organization (WHO) has published two extensive and well-regarded syllabi on the classification and definitions of the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Although predominantly based on the FrenchAmerican-British (FAB) morphological approach to the five well-described subtypes, additional features were included such as multilineage dysplasia of two or more c...