Use of hydroxyurea in chronic myeloid leukemia during pregnancy: a case report

Article Abstract:

Chronic myelogenous leukemia, cancer of a type of white blood cell, is associated with a unique chromosome abnormality. A number of types of chemotherapy have been used to treat the disease, but survival is usually only three to four years, except for patients given bone marrow transplants. Pregnant patients with this type of leukemia have been treated with cytotoxic (lethal to cells) drugs, radiation of the spleen (with uterine shielding), and leukapheresis (removal of white blood cells from the blood, which is then transfused back into the patient). The use of hydroxyurea, a cytotoxic agent that blocks production of DNA (molecular components of chromosomes), is useful in treating chronic and accelerated stages of chronic myeloid leukemia, but its use during pregnancy has not been reported. A case is described of a 33-year-old woman with the disease who was found to be 12 to 14 weeks pregnant while she was being treated with hydroxyurea. The leukemia had been diagnosed seven months earlier. As the first trimester, the time of greatest fetal sensitivity, was already completed, the drug was continued at a dosage of 0.5 to 1.0 grams orally per day. The patient gradually became anemic as pregnancy progressed, but white blood cell number did not increase until around the last two months of pregnancy, which resolved after spontaneous delivery at 36 weeks of gestation. A healthy male infant was delivered, and the child remained physically and developmentally normal at 26 months. The mother was well for 16 months after delivery, but disease then accelerated and she died two months later. This report indicates, that for pregnant women with chronic myeloid leukemia, hydroxyurea appears not to harm the fetus and is well-tolerated by the mother. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Evaluation, Complications and side effects, Chronic myeloid leukemia, Hydroxyurea

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PAPP-A and osteoprotegerin, together with interleukin-8 and RANTES, are elevated in the peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis

Article Abstract:

Pregnancy-associated plasma protein A, glycodelin, osteoprotegerin, and soluble CD163, which are possible peritoneal fluid markers for endometriosis is evaluated and the established chemokline markers interleukin-8 and regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted are compared. It is concluded that pregnancy-assisted plasma protein A and protegerin may play a role in the inflammation process of endometriosis.

Health aspects, Endometriosis, Interleukin-8, Medical condition overview

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