ABSTRACT
We present a case of a 73-year-old woman with transfusion-dependent anaemia thought to be secondary to an unidentifiable inflammatory condition. Anaemia evaluation including multiple bone marrow biopsies was unrevealing, with the exception of a non-specific elevation of her erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein. She had no identifiable inflammatory condition and did not meet the criteria for myelodysplastic syndrome. She was empirically treated with lenalidomide and achieved a complete response, suggesting that this immunomodulatory drug could potentially have a role in treating a subgroup of patients with immune-mediated anaemia.
Subject(s)
Anemia/drug therapy , Immunologic Factors/therapeutic use , Inflammation/etiology , Thalidomide/analogs & derivatives , Aged , Female , Humans , Lenalidomide , Thalidomide/therapeutic use , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
A woman aged 42 years with a 1-month history of rapidly expanding bilateral breast masses presented with severe leucocytosis, anaemia, blurry vision, headaches and shortness of breath. Evaluation revealed chronic myeloid leukaemia in lymphoid blast crisis with extramedullary leukaemia involving her breasts.
Subject(s)
Blast Crisis/pathology , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/pathology , Adult , Breast Neoplasms/etiology , Female , Humans , Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/complications , Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/diagnosis , Philadelphia Chromosome , Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/complications , Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/geneticsABSTRACT
Recent clinical trials have provided additional first-line therapeutic treatment options that improve overall survival and progression-free survival in women with breast cancer.
