Ineffectiveness of dextrodopa in chronic granulocytic leukaemia
Spiers, A.S.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Medicine 4(5): 475-478
1974
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-8291 PMID: 4532915 Document Number: 81151
The occurrence of neutropenia and abnormalities of granulopoiesis in Parkinsonian patients treated with mixtures of levodopa and dextrodopa, and not in patients treated with pure levodopa, suggests that dextrodopa depresses granulopoiesis, possibly by competitive antagonism of phenylalanine. However, treatment of patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia with 8 g of dextrodopa daily for up to five weeks failed to control their disease. Despite these results it is considered that the use of amino acid antagonists remains a potentially valuable approach to therapy of chronic granulocytic leukaemia.