The treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Jehovah's Witnesses and patients who cannot accept blood products

Abstract

Jehovah's Witnesses cannot accept blood products based upon religious beliefs, and when they present with acute leukemia, the ideal treatment strategy can be controversial. We present six cases of Jehovah's Witnesses with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and show that complete remission can be achieved without using anthracycline in 83% (5/6) of patients. We also report, for the first time in this population, that the use of agents with novel mechanisms of action, such as blinatumomab and nelarabine, is associated with minimal myelosuppression and can produce durable responses, with 2 of 6 patients still alive in CR3 at 4.9 and 6.6 years.

Keywords

• Leukemia
• Jehovah's Witness
• Nelarabine
• Blinatumomab
• Chemotherapy