Thiamphenicol induced bone marrow suppression as a therapy of myeloproliferative diseases.

Sixteen patients, suffering from myeloproliferative diseases (9 polycythaemia vera, 7 primary thrombocythaemia) and 20 control subjects were treated for 14 days with 1 g of thiamphenicol per day. The effect of 40 treatment cycles was studied. The regimen resulted in lowering the haemoglobin values by 4.8% in controls (p greater than or equal to 0.001) and patients (p greater than or equal to 0.01); the reticulocyte count dropped 43% in the patient group (p greater than or equal to 0.01) and 32% in the controls (p greater than or equal to 0.05); the thrombocyte count was decreased 42% (p greater than or equal to 0.0001) vs 29% (p greater than or equal to 0.0001) in the control group. The administration of 1 g/day of thiamphenicol for a 14 day period reduced the myelopoietic activity by 40%. The decrease of all values was statistically significant. After discontinuation of thiamphenicol therapy the haematological parameters returned to the initial values within 1-2 months. The myelodepressant activity of thiamphenicol may therefore be applied to the therapy of the myeloproliferative diseases in order to reduce the risk of spontaneous haemorrhages and thrombosis.