Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Cuadra
I hadn't read about the higher chances of negative bone marrow effects with rabbit ATG. Good to know.
In the past, after a non-response to horse ATG, doctors often weighed the choice between a second round of horse or a first round of rabbit. Campath offers another alternative, and perhaps the preferred choice in many cases, as for your mother.
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Campath is used to treat MS and other autoimmune diseases. Dr. Young says it works similarly to ATG, but yet very differently. Rabbit-atg is just a stronger version of horse-atg. He prefers to use something "different", as he thinks it is much more likely to work. He is just not keen on rabbit-atg for my mother.
Remember - we're just being told this info by another hematologist who consults with Dr. Young.
Yes, repeating atg (rabbit or horse) poses a risk of negative bone marrow effects (cytogenetic changes, etc.). Campath does not. That's what I understand.
By the way, my mother's hematologist consulted a second doctor at the NIH, and she recommended Campath, too.
We're also now considering the possibility of high-dose Cytoxan, as recommended by Dr. Brodsky, another expert in aplastic anemia. He has his own take on the matter, but that's why you consider second/third opinions, etc.
But that's it: Campath, or Cytoxan.