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Leukemia Link to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Drug - Higher than Conceived

Reports that linked Leukamia with Multiple Sclerosis drugs had been understated according to a study put up at Late-breaking Science Program at American Academy of Neurology’s 61st Annual Meeting in Seattle.

Mitoxantrone is a FDA approved drug, the immunosuppresant drug is used to fight the later stages of Multiple Sclerosis. It is one of the 2 drugs that have been able to combat the implications of advanced MS attacks. Because the drug is known to cause heart damage, the entire dosages administered over a lifetime is kept near 8 to 12 doses over a period of 2 to 3 years.

Studies in the past have brought to the surface the extended risk of developing Leukemia for patients who have MS. Earlier studies had shown that patients taking Mitoxantrone for MS manifest acute leukemia about 7 to 25 out of every 10000 cases. Present-day retrospective study conducted on Italian people suggested the same number to be 74.

All the 2,854 Italian patients who enrolled for the study underwent a minimum of one cycle of Mitaxantrone treatment and were put under observation for a period of one year. 21 among them developed leukemia and 8 of them passed away. Leukemia was found to develop an average of 3 years post the initial drug use and 1.5 years after the culmination of treatment. It is important for all mitoxantrone treated MS patients to undergo extended and circumspect hematological follow-up for examining any possibility of acute Leukemia.

The American Cancer Society has put forward some 44270 fresh cases of Leukemia among the general US population last year.