Rare Respiratory and Neurologic Adverse Reactions to Azacitidine in the Treatment of Myelodysplastic Syndrome of Patients Treated at the Ottawa Hospital

Abstract

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders negatively affecting the bone marrow and resulting in multiple cytopenias. MDS ultimately progresses to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Azacitidine was the first hypomethylating agent approved in Canada for patients with high risk MDS and patients with AML with 20-30% blasts. Azacitidine has a relatively low toxicity profile and is well tolerated by most age groups. We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients who received azacitidine at our institution, over a 3.5-year period. To our knowledge, this report presents the first case of peripheral neuropathy and an additional case of pneumonitis as rare adverse effects of azacitidine.




J Hematol. 2015;4(4):231-234
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jh227w