Successful treatment of primary refractory anemia with a combination regimen of all-trans retinoic acid, calcitriol, and androgen.

Leuk Res. 2006 Aug;30(8):935-42. Epub 2006 Jan 30.

Successful treatment of primary refractory anemia with a combination regimen of
all-trans retinoic acid, calcitriol, and androgen.

Zhang W, Zhou F, Cao X, Cheng Y, He A, Liu J, Ma X, Chen G.

Department of Clinical Hematology, Affiliated No. 2 Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong
University, 157 West Five Road, Xi'an 710004, PR China.
alisantra0351@yahoo.com.cn

We investigated the efficacy and safety of a combination regimen in 63 patients
with primary refractory anemia (RA). The daily treatment protocol comprised
all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) (30 mg/m(2)), calcitriol (0.1 microg/m(2)), and
androgen (stanozolol 3mg/m(2), or danazol 300 mg/m(2)) in three separate doses
for eight consecutive weeks. Hematologic improvement was observed in 43 (68.3%)
patients. The treatment administered was generally well tolerated, with no severe
regimen-related toxicity. The overall survival rates at 3 and 5 years were 68.72%
and 53.18%, respectively. These results indicate that this combination regimen is
an effective and well-tolerated treatment for patients with RA.