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Treatment of this disorder involves treatment of the underlying cancer.
Treat the underlying cause
Blood transfusion (PRBC) according to need
The one known curative treatment is allogeneic stem cell transplantation, but this approach involves significant risks.
Other treatment options are largely supportive, and do not alter the course of the disorder (with the possible exception of ruxolitinib, as discussed below). These options may include regular folic acid, allopurinol or blood transfusions. Dexamethasone, alpha-interferon and hydroxyurea (also known as hydroxycarbamide) may play a role.
Lenalidomide and thalidomide may be used in its treatment, though peripheral neuropathy is a common troublesome side-effect.
Frequent blood transfusions may also be required. If the patient is diabetic and is taking a sulfonylurea, this should be stopped periodically to rule out drug-induced thrombocytopenia.
Splenectomy is sometimes considered as a treatment option for patients with myelofibrosis in whom massive splenomegaly is contributing to anaemia because of hypersplenism, particularly if they have a heavy requirement for blood transfusions. However, splenectomy in the presence of massive splenomegaly is a high-risk procedure, with a mortality risk as high as 3% in some studies.
In November 2011, the FDA approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi) as a treatment for intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis. Ruxolitinib serves as an inhibitor of JAK 1 and 2.
The "New England Journal of Medicine" (NEJM) published results from two Phase III studies of ruxolitinib. These data showed that the treatment significantly reduced spleen volume, improved symptoms of myelofibrosis, and was associated with improved overall survival compared to placebo.
The type of treatment depends on the severity of the patient’s bone marrow failure disease. Blood transfusion is one treatment. Blood is collected from volunteer donors who agree to let doctors draw blood stem cells from their blood or bone marrow for transplantation. Blood that is taken straight from collected blood stem cells is known as peripheral blood stem cell donation. A peripheral stem cell donor must have the same blood type as the patient receiving the blood cells. Once the stem cells are in the patient’s body through an IV, the cells mature and become blood cells. Before donation, a drug is injected into the donor, which increases the number of stem cells into their body. Feeling cold and lightheaded, having numbness around the mouth and cramping in the hands are common symptoms during the donation process. After the donation, the amount of time for recovery varies for every donor, “But most stem cell donors are able to return to their usual activities within a few days to a week after donation”.
Osteomyelitis often requires prolonged antibiotic therapy for weeks or months. A PICC line or central venous catheter can be placed for long-term intravenous medication administration. It may require surgical debridement in severe cases, or even amputation.
Initial first-line antibiotic choice is determined by the patient's history and regional differences in common infective organisms. A treatment lasting 42 days is practiced in a number of facilities. Local and sustained availability of drugs have proven to be more effective in achieving prophylactic and therapeutic outcomes. Open surgery is needed for chronic osteomyelitis, whereby the involucrum is opened and the sequestrum is removed or sometimes saucerization can be done. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been shown to be a useful to the treatment of osteomyelitis.
Prior to the widespread availability and use of antibiotics, blow fly larvae were sometimes deliberately introduced to the wounds to feed on the infected material, effectively scouring them clean. In 1875, American artist Thomas Eakins depicted a surgical procedure for osteomyelitis at Jefferson Medical College, in a famous oil painting titled "The Gross Clinic".
There is tentative evidence that bioactive glass may also be useful in long bone infections. Support from randomized controlled trials, however, is not available as of 2015.
Treating immune-mediated aplastic anemia involves suppression of the immune system, an effect achieved by daily medicine intake, or, in more severe cases, a bone marrow transplant, a potential cure. The transplanted bone marrow replaces the failing bone marrow cells with new ones from a matching donor. The multipotent stem cells in the bone marrow reconstitute all three blood cell lines, giving the patient a new immune system, red blood cells, and platelets. However, besides the risk of graft failure, there is also a risk that the newly created white blood cells may attack the rest of the body ("graft-versus-host disease"). In young patients with an HLA matched sibling donor, bone marrow transplant can be considered as first-line treatment, patients lacking a matched sibling donor typically pursue immunosuppression as a first-line treatment, and matched unrelated donor transplants are considered a second-line therapy.
Medical therapy of aplastic anemia often includes a course of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) and several months of treatment with ciclosporin to modulate the immune system. Chemotherapy with agents such as cyclophosphamide may also be effective but has more toxicity than ATG. Antibody therapy, such as ATG, targets T-cells, which are believed to attack the bone marrow. Corticosteroids are generally ineffective, though they are used to ameliorate serum sickness caused by ATG. Normally, success is judged by bone marrow biopsy 6 months after initial treatment with ATG.
One prospective study involving cyclophosphamide was terminated early due to a high incidence of mortality, due to severe infections as a result of prolonged neutropenia.
In the past, before the above treatments became available, patients with low leukocyte counts were often confined to a sterile room or bubble (to reduce risk of infections), as in the case of Ted DeVita.
Bone marrow suppression due to anti-cancer chemotherapy is much harder to treat and often involves hospital admission, strict infection control, and aggressive use of intravenous antibiotics at the first sign of infection.
G-CSF is used clinically (see Neutropenia) but tests in mice suggest it may lead to bone loss.
GM-CSF has been compared to G-CSF as a treatment of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression/Neutropenia.
In developing new chemotherapeutics(化疗方法),the efficacy of the drug against the disease is often balanced against the likely level of myelotoxicity the drug will cause. In-vitro colony forming cell (CFC) assays using normal human bone marrow grown in appropriate semi-solid media such as ColonyGEL have been shown to be useful in predicting the level of clinical myelotoxicity a certain compound might cause if administered to humans. These predictive in-vitro assays reveal effects the administered compounds have on the bone marrow progenitor cells that produce the various mature cells in the blood and can be used to test the effects of single drugs or the effects of drugs administered in combination with others.
Treatment consists of frequent blood transfusions and chelation therapy. Potential cures include bone marrow transplantation and gene therapy.
While investigational drug therapies exist, no curative drug treatment exists for any of the MPDs. The goal of treatment for ET and PV is prevention of thrombohemorrhagic complications. The goal of treatment for MF is amelioration of anemia, splenomegaly, and other symptoms. Low-dose aspirin is effective in PV and ET. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors like imatinib have improved the prognosis of CML patients to near-normal life expectancy.
Recently, a "JAK2" inhibitor, namely ruxolitinib, has been approved for use in primary myelofibrosis. Trials of these inhibitors are in progress for the treatment of the other myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Treatment consists of frequent blood transfusions and chelation therapy. Potential cures include bone marrow transplantation and gene therapy.
The goals of therapy are to control symptoms, improve quality of life, improve overall survival, and decrease progression to AML.
The IPSS scoring system can help triage patients for more aggressive treatment (i.e. bone marrow transplant) as well as help determine the best timing of this therapy. Supportive care with blood products and hematopoietic growth factors (e.g. erythropoietin) is the mainstay of therapy. The regulatory environment for the use of erythropoietins is evolving, according to a recent US Medicare National coverage determination. No comment on the use of hematopoeitic growth factors for MDS was made in that document though.
Three agents have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of MDS:
1. 5-azacytidine: 21-month median survival
2. Decitabine: Complete response rate reported as high as 43%. A phase I study has shown efficacy in AML when decitabine is combined with valproic acid.
3. Lenalidomide: Effective in reducing red blood cell transfusion requirement in patients with the chromosome 5q deletion subtype of MDS
Chemotherapy with the hypomethylating agents 5-azacytidine and decitabine has been shown to decrease blood transfusion requirements and to retard the progression of MDS to AML. Lenalidomide was approved by the FDA in December 2005 only for use in the 5q- syndrome. In the United States, treatment of MDS with lenalidomide costs about $9,200 per month.
Stem cell transplantation, particularly in younger (i.e. less than 40 years of age) and more severely affected patients, offers the potential for curative therapy. Success of bone marrow transplantation has been found to correlate with severity of MDS as determined by the IPSS score, with patients having a more favorable IPSS score tending to have a more favorable outcome with transplantation.
The primary treatment for CAMT is bone marrow transplantation.
Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant is the only thing that ultimately cures this genetic disease. Frequent platelet transfusions are required to ensure that platelet levels do not fall to dangerous levels, although this is not always the case. It is known for patients to continue to create very small numbers of platelets over time.
Occasionally, the anemia is so severe that support with transfusion is required. These patients usually do not respond to erythropoietin therapy. Some cases have been reported that the anemia is reversed or heme level is improved through use of moderate to high doses of pyrodoxine (vitamin B). In severe cases of SBA, bone marrow transplant is also an option with limited information about the success rate. Some cases are listed on MedLine and various other medical sites. In the case of isoniazid-induced sideroblastic anemia, the addition of B is sufficient to correct the anemia. Desferrioxamine, a chelating agent, is used to treat iron overload from transfusions.
Therapeutic phlebotomy can be used to manage iron overload.
Iron overload can develop in MDS as a result of the RBC transfusions which are a major part of the supportive care for anemic MDS patients. Although the specific therapies patients receive may alleviate the RBC transfusion need in some cases, many MDS patients may not respond to these treatments, thus may develop iron overload from repeated RBC transfusions.
Patients requiring relatively large numbers of RBC transfusions can experience the adverse effect of chronic iron overload on their liver, heart, and endocrine functions. The resulting organ dysfunction from transfusional iron overload might be a contributor to increased illness and death in early-stage MDS.
For patients requiring many RBC transfusions, serum ferritin levels, number of RBC transfusions received, and associated organ dysfunction (heart, liver, and pancreas) should be monitored to determine iron levels. Monitoring serum ferritin may also be useful, aiming to decrease ferritin levels to .
Currently, two iron chelators are available in the US, deferoxamine for intravenous use and deferasirox for oral use. These options now provide potentially useful drugs for treating this iron overload problem. A third chelating agent is available in Europe, deferiprone for oral use, but not available in the US.
Clinical trials in the MDS are ongoing with iron chelating agents to address the question of whether iron chelation alters the natural history of patients with MDS who are transfusion dependent. Reversal of some of the consequences of iron overload in MDS by iron chelation therapy have been shown.
Both the MDS Foundation and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network MDS Guidelines Panel have recommended that chelation therapy be considered to decrease iron overload in selected MDS patients. Evidence also suggests a potential value exists to iron chelation in patients who will undergo a stem cell transplant.
Although deferasirox is generally well tolerated (other than episodes of gastrointestinal distress and kidney dysfunction in some patients), recently a safety warning by the FDA and Novartis was added to deferasirox treatment guidelines. Following postmarketing use of deferasirox, rare cases of acute kidney failure or liver failure occurred, some resulting in death. Due to this, patients should be closely monitored on deferasirox therapy prior to the start of therapy and regularly thereafter.
The treatment should be tailored to the cause involved and the severity of the disease process. With oral osteoporosis the emphasis should be on good nutrient absorption and metabolic wastes elimination through a healthy gastro-intestinal function, effective hepatic metabolism of toxicants such as exogenous estrogens, endogenous acetaldehyde and heavy metals, a balanced diet, healthy lifestyle, assessment of factors related to potential coagulopathies, and treatment of periodontal diseases and other oral and dental infections.
In cases of advanced oral ischaemic osteoporosis and/or ONJ that are not bisphosphonates related, clinical evidence has shown that surgically removing the damaged marrow, usually by curettage and decortication, will eliminate the problem (and the pain) in 74% of patients with jaw involvement. Repeat surgeries, usually smaller procedures than the first, may be required. Almost a third of jawbone patients will need surgery in one or more other parts of the jaws because the disease so frequently present multiple lesions, i.e., multiple sites in the same or similar bones, with normal marrow in between. In the hip, at least half of all patients will get the disease in the opposite hip over time; this pattern occurs in the jaws as well. Recently, it has been found that some osteonecrosis patients respond to anticoagulation therapies alone. The earlier the diagnosis the better the prognosis. Research is ongoing on other non-surgical therapeutic modalities that could alone or in combination with surgery further improve the prognosis and reduce the morbidity of ONJ. A greater emphasis on minimizing or correcting known causes is necessary while further research is conducted on chronic ischaemic bone diseases such as oral osteoporosis and ONJ.
In patients with bisphosphonates-associated ONJ, the response to surgical treatment is usually poor. Conservative debridement of necrotic bone, pain control, infection management, use of antimicrobial oral rinses, and withdrawal of bisphosphonates are preferable to aggressive surgical measures for treating this form of ONJ. Although an effective treatment for bisphosphonate-associated bone lesions has not yet been established, and this is unlikely to occur until this form of ONJ is better understood, there have been clinical reports of some improvement after 6 months or more of complete cessation of bisphosphonate therapy.
The only effective line of treatment for malignant infantile osteopetrosis is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It has been shown to provide long-term disease-free periods for a significant percentage of those treated; can impact both hematologic and skeletal abnormalities; and has been used successfully to reverse the associated skeletal abnormalities.
Radiographs of at least one case with malignant infantile osteopetrosis have demonstrated bone remodeling and recanalization of medullar canals following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This favorable radiographic response could be expected within one year following the procedure - nevertheless, primary graft failure can prove fatal.
Median survival is about 9 months.
Autologous stem cell transplantation has been used in treatment.
The treatment of CMML remains challenging due to the lack of clinical trials investigating the disease as its own clinical entity. It is often grouped with MDS in clinical trials, and for this reason the treatment of CMML is very similar to that of MDS. Most cases are dealt with as supportive rather than curative because most therapies do not effectively increase survival. Indications for treatment include the presence of B symptoms, symptomatic organ involvement, increasing blood counts, hyperleukocytosis, leukostasis and/or worsening cytopaenias.
Blood transfusions and EPO administration are used to raise haemoglobin levels in cases with anaemia.
Azacitidine is a drug approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of CMML and by the European Medicines Agency for high risk non-proliferative CMML with 10-19% marrow blasts. It is a cytidine analogue that causes hypomethylation of DNA by inhibition of DNA methyltransferase. Decitabine is a similar drug to azacitidine and is approved by the FDA for treatments of all subtypes of MDS, including CMML. Hydroxyurea is a chemotherapy that is used in the myeloproliferative form of CMML to reduce cell numbers.
Haematopoietic stem cell transplant remains the only curative treatment for CMML. However, due to the late age of onset and presence of other illnesses, this form of treatment is often not possible.
The natural history of myeloma is of relapse following treatment. This may be attributed to tumor heterogeneity. Depending on the patient's condition, the prior treatment modalities used and the duration of remission, options for relapsed disease include re-treatment with the original agent, use of other agents (such as melphalan, cyclophosphamide, thalidomide or dexamethasone, alone or in combination), and a second autologous stem cell transplant.
Later in the course of the disease, "treatment resistance" occurs. This may be a reversible effect, and some new treatment modalities may re-sensitize the tumor to standard therapy. For patients with "relapsed disease", bortezomib is a recent addition to the therapeutic arsenal, especially as second line therapy, since 2005. Bortezomib is a proteasome inhibitor. Also, lenalidomide (Revlimid), a less toxic thalidomide analog, is showing promise for treating myeloma. The newly approved thalidomide derivative pomalidomide (Pomalyst in the U.S.) may be used for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.
In the 21st century, more patients have survived longer, as a result of stem cell transplant (with their own or a donor's) and treatments combining bortezomib (Velcade), dexamethasone and melphalan or cyclophosphamide. This seems to maintain the monoclonal peak at a reasonable level. Survival expectancy has risen. New treatments are under development.
Kidney failure in multiple myeloma can be acute (reversible) or chronic (irreversible). Acute kidney failure typically resolves when the calcium and paraprotein levels are brought under control. Treatment of chronic kidney failure is dependent on the type of kidney failure and may involve dialysis.
Several newer options are approved for the management of advanced disease:
- ixazomib — an orally available proteasome inhibitor indicated in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone in people who have received at least one prior therapy;
- panobinostat — an orally available histone deacetylase inhibitor used in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in people who have received at least 2 prior chemotherapy regimens, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent (such as lenalidomide or pomalidomide);
- carfilzomib — a proteasome inhibitor that is indicated:
- as a single agent for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received one or more lines of therapy;
- in combination with dexamethasone or with lenalidomide+dexamethasone for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received one to three lines of therapy;
- elotuzumab — an immunostimulatory humanized monoclonal antibody against SLAMF7 (also known as CD319). It is FDA-approved for the treatment of patients who have received one to three prior therapies (in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone);
- daratumumab — a monoclonal antibody against CD38 indicated for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapy including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent or who are double refractory to a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent.
Most people, including those treated with ASCT, will relapse after initial treatment. Maintenance therapy using a prolonged course of low toxicity medications is often used to prevent relapse. A 2017 meta-analysis showed that post ASCT maintenance therapy with lenalidomide improved progression free survival and overall survival in people at standard risk. A 2012 clinical trial showed that people with intermediate and high risk disease benefit from a bortezomib based maintenance regimen.
Definitive therapy depends on the cause:
- Symptomatic treatment can be given by blood transfusion, if there is marked anemia. A positive Coombs test is a relative contraindication to transfuse the patient. In cold hemolytic anemia there is advantage in transfuse warmed blood
- In severe immune-related hemolytic anemia, steroid therapy is sometimes necessary.
- In steroid resistant cases, consideration can be given to rituximab or addition of an immunosuppressant ( azathioprine, cyclophosphamide)
- Association of methylprednisolone and intravenous immunoglobulin can control hemolysis in acute severe cases
- Sometimes splenectomy can be helpful where extravascular hemolysis, or hereditary spherocytosis, is predominant (i.e., most of the red blood cells are being removed by the spleen).
Treatment in fibrous dysplasia is mainly palliative, and is focused on managing fractures and preventing deformity. There are no medications capable of altering the disease course. Intravenous bisphosphonates may be helpful for treatment of bone pain, but there is no clear evidence that they strengthen bone lesions or prevent fractures. Surgical techniques that are effective in other disorders, such as bone grafting, curettage, and plates and screws, are frequently ineffective in fibrous dysplasia and should be avoided. Intramedullary rods are generally preferred for management of fractures and deformity in the lower extremities. Progressive scoliosis can generally be managed with standard instrumentation and fusion techniques. Surgical management in the craniofacial skeleton is complicated by frequent post-operative FD regrowth, and should focus on correction of functional deformities. Prophylactic optic nerve decompression increases the risk of vision loss and is contraindicated.
Managing endocrinopathies is a critical component of management in FD. All patients with fibrous dysplasia should be evaluated and treated for endocrine diseases associated with McCune–Albright syndrome. In particular untreated growth hormone excess may worsen craniofacial fibrous dysplasia and increase the risk of blindness. Untreated hypophosphatemia increases bone pain and risk of fractures.
Radiation to the spleen does not generally result in a decrease in spleen size or reduction of platelet transfusion requirement.
There is no cure, although curative therapy with bone marrow transplantion is being investigated in clinical trials. It is believed the healthy marrow will provide the sufferer with cells from which osteoclasts will develop. If complications occur in children, patients can be treated with vitamin D. Gamma interferon has also been shown to be effective, and it can be associated to vitamin D. Erythropoetin has been used to treat any associated anemia. Corticosteroids may alleviate both the anemia and stimulate bone resorption. Fractures and osteomyelitis can be treated as usual. Treatment for osteopetrosis depends on the specific symptoms present and the severity in each person. Therefore, treatment options must be evaluated on an individual basis. Nutritional support is important to improve growth and it also enhances responsiveness to other treatment options. A calcium-deficient diet has been beneficial for some affected people.
Treatment is necessary for the infantile form:
- Vitamin D (calcitriol) appears to stimulate dormant osteoclasts, which stimulates bone resorption
- Gamma interferon can have long-term benefits. It improves white blood cell function (leading to fewer infections), decreases bone volume, and increases bone marrow volume.
- Erythropoietin can be used for anemia, and corticosteroids can be used for anemia and to stimulate bone resorption.
Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) improves some cases of severe, infantile osteopetrosis associated with bone marrow failure, and offers the best chance of longer-term survival for individuals with this type.
In pediatric (childhood) osteopetrosis, surgery is sometimes needed because of fractures. Adult osteopetrosis typically does not require treatment, but complications of the condition may require intervention. Surgery may be needed for aesthetic or functional reasons (such as multiple fractures, deformity, and loss of function), or for severe degenerative joint disease.
The long-term-outlook for people with osteopetrosis depends on the subtype and the severity of the condition in each person.The severe infantile forms of osteopetrosis are associated with shortened life expectancy, with most untreated children not surviving past their first decade. seems to have cured some infants with early-onset disease. However, the long-term prognosis after transplantation is unknown. For those with onset in childhood or adolescence, the effect of the condition depends on the specific symptoms (including how fragile the bones are and how much pain is present). Life expectancy in the adult-onset forms is normal.