Management of Cytopenias During Treatment with Lenalidomide in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Minoo Battiwalla 1, Richard A Wells*, 2
1 Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA
2 Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
, 2075 Bayview Ave., Room T2 012,
Toronto, ON
M4N 3M5, Canada
Abstract
Lenalidomide is approved for the treatment of Low and Intermediate-1 risk International Prognostic Scoring System categorized myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with deletion (del (5q)), and has an evolving role in other subtypes of MDS. Severe cytopenias may emerge with lenalidomide treatment, which appear to be related to elimination of the dysplastic clone. Although guidelines based on expert opinion have been published, the optimum management of lenalidomide-induced cytopenias in MDS in the “real world” setting is still evolving. We report two illustrative cases of lenalidomide-induced cytopenias in patients with del (5q) MDS, present an updated review of the literature and provide practical guidance for the management of cytopenias during lenalidomide treatment of MDS.
Keywords: Lenalidomide, MDS, cytopenias.
Article Information
Article History:
Received Date: 15/2/2010
Revision Received Date: 8/4/2010
Acceptance Date: 23/4/2010
Electronic publication date: 2/6/2010
Collection year: 2010
© Battiwalla and Wells; Licensee Bentham Open.
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (
http: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
* Address correspondence to this author at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
, 2075 Bayview Ave., Room T2 012,
Toronto, ON
M4N 3M5, Canada; Phone: 416-480-5700 Fax: 416-480-6002
Email: richard.wells@sunnybrook.ca
Open Peer Review Details |
Manuscript submitted on 15-2-2010 |
Original Manuscript |
Management of Cytopenias During Treatment with Lenalidomide in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes |