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Effectiveness of azacitidine for the treatment of higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes in daily practice: results from the Dutch population-based PHAROS MDS registry

Leukemia volume 29, pages 2449–2451 (2015)Cite this article

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We read with interest the recent article by Bernal et al.1 on the effectiveness of azacitidine for the treatment of higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (HR-MDS), based on registration of patients by hematologists in selected hospitals in Spain. That study provided valuable findings complementary to that obtained from clinical trials, which generally includes selected patient populations. The main finding of their study was that there was no beneficial effect of azacitidine. Their patient population included a heterogeneous group of patients with HR-MDS, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with 20–30% blasts, which may limit the generalizability of the study results to a population with exclusively HR-MDS.

To complement and extend their observations in a more homogenous population, including all patients within a well-defined area, we conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study to assess the effectiveness of azacitidine compared with best supportive care (BSC) only and intensive chemotherapy (IC) for the treatment of transplant-ineligible patients with exclusively HR-MDS in the Netherlands.

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References

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Acknowledgements

The Population-based HAematological Registry for Observational Studies (PHAROS) is an initiative of the Dutch-Belgian Hemato-Oncology Group (HOVON), the institute of Medical Technology Assessment (iMTA/BMG) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation (IKNL). We are grateful to all participating centers, hematologist, research nurses and data managers for their contributions and efforts, which allowed for additional data collection. We especially thank Ms Hind al Attabi and Dr Liyan Qiu for the dedicated data collection. This work was financially supported by grants from The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw; #152001007).

Author contributions

AGD, AAvdL and MJ-L designed the study; AGD and OV collected the data; AGD analyzed the data; YvN provided advice on statistical analyses; AGD, YvN, OV, EFMP, PCH, PS, AAvdL and MJ-L interpreted the data, AGD wrote the manuscript; and all authors read, commented on, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. A A van de Loosdrecht and M Jongen-Lavrencic: These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    A G Dinmohamed, P Sonneveld & M Jongen-Lavrencic

  2. Clinical Trial Center—HOVON Data Center, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Y van Norden

  3. Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    O Visser & P C Huijgens

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, Reinier de Graaf Group, Delft, The Netherlands

    E F M Posthuma

  5. Department of Hematology, Cancer Center Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    P C Huijgens & A A van de Loosdrecht

Authors
  1. A G Dinmohamed
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  2. Y van Norden
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  3. O Visser
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  4. E F M Posthuma
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  7. A A van de Loosdrecht
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  8. M Jongen-Lavrencic
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M Jongen-Lavrencic.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Dinmohamed, A., van Norden, Y., Visser, O. et al. Effectiveness of azacitidine for the treatment of higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes in daily practice: results from the Dutch population-based PHAROS MDS registry. Leukemia 29, 2449–2451 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2015.220

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