Long-term evaluation of 164 XXXX with essential thrombocythaemia treated with @entity44615 : occurrence of leukaemic evolution.

@entity1 @entity5 @entity44615 @entity1778 @entity21715
@entity21715 ( @entity21715 ) is usually considered an indolent disease, but it may progress during its natural course into @entity1778 ( @entity1778 ); however, an influence of myelosuppressive agents in the blastic transformation of @entity21715 cannot be excluded. We performed a retrospective study to assess the incidence of @entity1778 in @entity21715 @entity1 treated with @entity44615 (PB) as first-line therapy. One hundred and sixty-four @entity1 with @entity21715 were managed with PB at a dose of 1 mg/kg/d until a stable platelet count below 400 x 10(9)/l was achieved. Maintenance therapy was given at a planned dose ranging between 0.2 and 1 mg/kg/d according to platelet count, in all cases, with a median daily dose of 25 mg (range 7-75 mg/d). The median treatment time was 100 months (range 25-243 months). The @entity1 were evaluated for the occurrence of @entity1778 and/or secondary @entity5 and survival end-points. @entity1778 was observed in nine @entity1 (5.5%) after a median treatment time of 153 months (range 79-227 months). The overall survival (OS) and the event-free survival (EFS) at 120 months were 95% and 97%, whereas at 180 months, they were 84% and 76% respectively. In conclusion, this retrospective analysis shows a low incidence of @entity1778 in a large group of @entity1 consecutively treated with PB as first-line chemotherapy. Therefore, an investigation of the role of myelosuppressive agents in the blastic transformation of @entity21715 would be of interest.
