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Predictors of response to immunosuppressive therapy with antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporine and prognostic factors for survival in patients with severe aplastic anemia
Author(s) -
Chang Myung H.,
Kim Kyoung H.,
Kim Hyo S.,
Jun Hyun J.,
Kim Dong H.,
Jang Jun H.,
Kim Kihyun,
Jung Chul W.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
european journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0902-4441
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0609.2009.01378.x
Subject(s) - medicine , aplastic anemia , complete response , horse , gastroenterology , globulin , absolute neutrophil count , immunology , chemotherapy , neutropenia , bone marrow , paleontology , biology
Background: Immunosuppressive therapy (IST) with antithymocyte globulin (ATG) plus cyclosporine (CSA) is standard therapy in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who do not have an available HLA‐matched sibling donor. Methods and patients: The current study aimed to determine the predictive factors for response to IST in patients with SAA and to identify prognostic factors following IST. A total of 62 patients diagnosed with SAA who received IST with either rabbit ATG ( n = 33) or horse ATG ( n = 29) plus CSA between October 1994 and December 2007 were included. Results: With a median follow‐up duration of 60.5 months, complete response and overall response were estimated to be 31% and 53%, respectively. The 4 yr overall survival rate was 75 ± 6%. In terms of predicting the response to IST, neutrophil counts above 0.3 × 10 9 /L prior to IST were the only significant predictive factor ( P = 0.02). Survival following IST was significantly different in favor of both the group showing high absolute reticulocyte counts (ARC) above 10.9 × 10 9 /L prior to IST ( P = 0.004) and the group achieving any response following IST ( P = 0.002). Conclusions: Pre‐IST neutrophil counts might predict the response to IST, while absolute ARCs prior to IST and response status after IST could be prognostic factors following IST.