Hematology Reports (Feb 2024)

Impact of Skeletal Muscle Depletion on Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome Treated with Azacitidine

  • Eri Takada,
  • Nobuhiko Nakamura,
  • Yuto Kaneda,
  • Kenji Fukuno,
  • Shin Lee,
  • Kei Fujita,
  • Tetsuji Morishita,
  • Yoshikazu Ikoma,
  • Takuro Matsumoto,
  • Hiroshi Nakamura,
  • Junichi Kitagawa,
  • Nobuhiro Kanemura,
  • Senji Kasahara,
  • Takeshi Hara,
  • Hisashi Tsurumi,
  • Masahito Shimizu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/hematolrep16010012
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1
pp. 114 – 124

Abstract

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Background: Azacitidine (AZA) is the standard treatment for patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The impact of skeletal muscle depletion (SMD), which is associated with outcomes of hematological malignancies, on the clinical course of MDS patients treated with AZA was investigated. Methods: This retrospective, observational study included 50 MDS patients treated with AZA. Muscle mass was evaluated using the skeletal muscle index (SMI), which is the area of muscle mass at the third lumbar vertebra on CT images divided by the square of the height. Results: Of the enrolled patients, 39 were males, and their median age was 69.5 years. Twenty-seven (20 male and 7 female) patients showed SMD. The median survival was 13.4 months in the SMD group and 15.2 months in the non-SMD group, with no significant difference and no significant association between the response rate or severe non-hematological toxicities and the presence of SMD. By contrast, grade 3–4 anemia and thrombocytopenia were significantly more frequent in the SMD group than in the non-SMD group. SMD was associated with severe anemia and thrombocytopenia in MDS patients treated with AZA. Conclusion: Reduced skeletal muscle mass may predict severe hematological toxicity in MDS patients treated with AZA.

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