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What treatments are available for aplastic anemia?
Blood Cancers & Disorders | Last Active: 11 hours ago | Replies (21)Comment receiving replies
I just found this group so my comment is late. My 82 year-old wife has had severe aplastic anemia for a year. She was treated with ATGAM, Promacta, cyclosporine, at MDAnderson in Houston. She is not eligible for stemcell transplant. She slowly improved then declined and doctors said the treatment has failed. She goes in 3 days a week for bloodwork and gets platelets and blood once or twice a week. We are looking at a different followup treatment using campath which requires ten days of infusion in hospital and will leave her very weak. It has around 30% success rate. This has been a very difficult experience.
Replies to "I just found this group so my comment is late. My 82 year-old wife has had..."
My wife is 85. Her diagnosis is also aplastic anemia, still current after 7 weeks in the hospital and now for over 4 weeks at home. Meds: 3 cyclosporine and 1 Alvaiz daily, Vitamin B12, few others. For 3 weeks now her platelet level has remained at 21 without an infusion, and she now stays awake most of the day, has returned to cooking meals, moving around the house, even stairs, without extreme worry that she will fall. Helping also, we think, is her return to fruits, vegetables, nuts, greens, fish, poultry, and meats (hospital food wasn't always helpful). Not up to walking longer distance than a block or two, but hopeful. We know that she has a serious illness, currently incurable, and she is not a candidate for stemcell transplant.
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@joetex
I am not familiar with Campath so I did a search. Looks like it has been replaced due to immunological risk with a new drug by the same brand. I’m so sorry that her previous regimen stopped working. Hopefully the replacement for Campath will be an option. Perhaps those more familiar with treatment options can shed some light.
Our director tagged a few members… @alpinegirl
@aeft @rockitman @yanis @leilab1 who might chime in.
Medical facilities run on a skeleton crew during the holidays and it may be hard to get anything scheduled. The ER is always an option for us in a medical emergency.
Will her oncologist/hematologist provide the follow up?