Myeloproliferative Diseases Health Article

Coping with cancer treatment

Acetaminophen and antidepressant drugs can help reduce some of the side effects of interferon alpha. Taking this drug at night may also make it easier to tolerate.

Clinical trials

The following therapies are being tested in clinical trials. Patients should check with their medical insurers before enrolling in a clinical trial. Insurers may not pay for some treatments but this varies with the insurer and each individual case.

Interferon alpha injections are being tested in essential thrombocythemia. This drug can lower platelet numbers and decrease the size of the spleen in about 80% of patients.

Several new drugs are in clinical trials. Thalidomide and SU5416 are being tested in patients with agnogenic myeloid metaplasia. R115777 and 12-O-tetrade-canoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) are in clinical trials open to patients with various myeloproliferative diseases.

Another possible treatment for agnogenic myeloid metaplasia is to purify the normal progenitor cells and return them to the body after destroying the abnormal progenitor cells with chemotherapy.

Prevention

The following environmental factors have been linked to myeloproliferative diseases:

• working as an electrician or in a petroleum manufacturing plant
• prolonged use of dark hair dyes
• exposure to nuclear bomb blasts or thorium dioxide

Special concerns

Whether polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and agnogenic myeloid metaplasia progress to leukemia is influenced by the specific treatment strategies. Patients should be aware that some treatments, particularly radioactive phosphorus, can substantially increase the risk of developing cancer.

See Also Acute myelocytic leukemia; Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy; Cytogenetic analysis; Cytology; Chromosome rearrangements; Hypercoagulation disorders; Myelosuppression; Radiation therapy; Ultrasonography

Resources

BOOKS

Aster, Jon, and Vinay Kumar. "White Cells, Lymph Nodes, Spleen, and Thymus." In Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease, 6th ed., edited by Ramzi S. Cotran, Vinay Kumar, and Tucker Collins. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1999, pp. 645-85.

Spivak, Jerry L. "Polycythemia vera." In Conn's Current Ther apy; Latest Approved Methods of Treatment for the Prac >ticing Physician, 53rd ed., edited by Robert E. Rakel et al. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 2001, pp.469-73.

Tefferi, Ayalew, and Murray N. Silverstein. "Myeloprolifera tive Diseases." In Cecil Textbook of Medicine, 21st ed., edited by Lee Goldman and J. Claude Bennett. Philadel phia: W.B. Saunders, 2000, pp. 935-41.

PERIODICALS

Saiki, I. "A Kampo Medicine, Juzen-taiho-to—Prevention of Malignant Progression and Metastasis of Tumor Cells and the Mechanism of Action." Biological and Pharmaceuti cal Bulletin 23, no. 6 (June 2000): 677-88.

Tang, X.P. "Activating Blood Circulation and Removing Stasis in Treating Polycythemia Vera: Clinical Observation and Therapeutical Mechanism (abstract)." Chung Kuo Chung Hsi I Chieh Ho Tsa Chih 17, no. 1 (January 1997): 20-22.

ORGANIZATIONS

MPD-Net Online Support Group from Myeloproliferative Diseases Research Center, Inc. 115 East 72nd Street, New York, NY 10021. <http://inform.acor.org/mpd/index.htm>.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders. P.O. Box 8923, New Fairfield, CT 06812-8923. (800) 999-6673. <http://www.rarediseases.org>.

OTHER

Besa, Emmanuel C., and Ulrich Woermann. "Polycythemia Vera." eMedicine Journals. May 2001 eMedicine.com, Inc. 17 May 2001 <http://emedicine.com/MED/topic1864.htm>.

"Myelofibrosis." The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy 2001 Merck and Co., Inc. 17 May 2001. <http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section11/chapter130/130c.htm>.

"Myeloproliferative Disorders Treatment—Health Profession als." CancerNet. Apr. 2001 National Cancer Institute. 9 May 2001 <http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov/pdq.html>.

The MPD-Support-L Webpage. 23 May 2001 <http://members.aol.com/mpdsupport>.

Anna Rovid Spickler, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Androgen

—A drug related to the male sex hormones.

Autoimmune disease

—A disease that develops when white blood cells attack normal cells or organs.

Biopsy

—A sample of an organ taken to look for abnormalities. Also, the technique used to take such samples.

Bone marrow

—A group of cells and molecules found in the centers of some bones. It makes all of the cells found in the blood.

Computed tomography (CT)

—A special x-ray technique that produces a cross-sectional image of the organs inside the body.

Corticosteroids

—A class of drugs, related to hormones naturally found in the body, that suppresses the immune system. One example is prednisone, sold under many brand names including Deltasone.

Erythromelalgia

—A condition characterized by warmth, redness and pain in the hands and especially the feet.

Erythropoietin

—A drug that stimulates the bone marrow to make more red blood cells. It is also known as epoetin alfa.

Extracorporeal photochemotherapy

—A technique in which the white blood cells are exposed to a chemical called a psoralen, temporarily separated from the rest of the blood and treated with UVA light, then returned to the body.

Gout

—A painful swelling of the joints that results from an accumulation of uric acid. This disease often affects the big toe.

Granulocyte

—One of three types of white blood cells (neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils) that contain visible granules.

Lymph node

—A small organ full of white blood cells, found in clusters throughout the body. Lymph nodes are where reactions to infections usually begin.