Myelodysplastic Syndrome Treatment

As one of the world’s largest leukemia programs, we see more people with myelodysplastic syndrome than most oncologists or cancer centers. This level of experience and expertise can make a difference in the success of your treatment.

Approximately 300 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome are evaluated in our center each year by a group of physicians completely dedicated to the care of these patients. Personalized treatment is provided in close collaboration with referring physicians, a key aspect of the extensive, long-term follow-up care that often is necessary during the course of myelodysplastic syndrome.

Myelodysplastic Syndrome Treatments

We offer the most advanced treatments for myelodysplastic syndromes, including numerous clinical trials of innovative treatments, many of which are not found elsewhere. Through our groundbreaking research, we have pioneered many new therapies for MDS, and we are constantly working toward new and better ways to help patients with this disease.

Lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome patients are treated initially for the specific complications of the disease, such as anemia and low blood counts. If more aggressive therapy is needed, strategies that are considered standard of care include chemotherapy using hypomethylating agents (5-azacitidine and decitabine) and lenalidomide.

Higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome patients usually need more aggressive therapy, but much depends on the age and condition of the patient. Younger patients with high-risk disease are considered for front-line chemotherapy approaches followed perhaps by allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

For older patients, intensive chemotherapy is rarely considered. Instead, our strategy focuses on development of active and safe treatments for newly diagnosed patients as well as those for whom the standard of care based therapies has not been effective.