MDS: Vidaza and Reduced Blood Count Blasts

This week's good blood count got me to thinking (always a dangerous thing). A pattern does seem to be emerging: counts go down during Vidaza treatments, elevate a week and two weeks later.

We won't have counts for next week. We're getting the hell outta town and having a Maine vacation.

But, the new numbers and increased energy started me, with my usual trepidation, doing some Internet searching, where I discovered a recent press release.

It says that "VIDAZA significantly extends overall survival and helps patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) become or remain red blood cell transfusion independent. Patients who benefitted included those with higher-risk MDS or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with 20-30% blasts, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO)."

Now, I'm neither suffering from AML nor are my blasts at 20-30%— they're less than 5%.

(Blasts, by the way, are young blood cells that mature into red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets. Excess blasts means an increased number of immature blood cells in the bone marrow.)

Okay, we already knew most of what the press release states because it confirms an earlier study. And, as has always been the case, the studies involved patients with worse situations than mine.

But, the idea that Vidaza might reduce blasts is encouraging.

The Vidaza Web site says of earlier studies that the major percentage of patients who responded when treated with VIDAZA achieved either a

• Partial Response (PR): No blast cells in the bloodstream. The number of blasts in the bone marrow has been reduced by at least half. Blood counts (red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets) are at least halfway between where they started (baseline) and normal. To be considered a PR, blood count improvements must be maintained for at least 4 weeks.

Or a

• Complete response (CR): No blast cells in the bloodstream. The number of blast cells in the bone marrow is at or near normal. Blood counts (red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets) are also at or near normal. To be considered a CR, blood counts must remain at or near normal levels for at least 4 weeks.

I'm scheduled for another bone marrow biopsy towards the end of August. The blast count will be of particular interest.

Meanwhile, the study cited in the news release carried on for about two years. I'm more than happy to continue doing what I'm doing for the next two years if that's what it'll take to see reduced blasts and increased platelets.

Who knows? Maybe my golf game will improve by then. Or, perhaps more likely (although not very probable) maybe the Mets and football Giants can win championships by then.

Do you believe in miracles?