Current Treatment Options

There are a variety of therapy options for treating myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). These options typically are classified as follows:

• Supportive care (discussed in Managing Myelodysplastic Syndromes)
• Low-intensity treatments (usually given to people in the early phases of MDS)
• High-intensity treatments (usually given to people who have advanced MDS, but are healthy enough to undergo the treatment)1

MDS treatment is designed to meet each individual’s specific needs. When planning an MDS treatment plan, doctors take the following into consideration: the patient’s MDS type, age, disease prognosis and disease stage.1 From this information, doctors can create therapy regimens that complement ongoing supportive care and suit each patient’s specific needs.

Low-intensity treatments for MDS include the following:

• Growth factors: Growth factors are hormones that stimulate the body’s own processes. A growth factor that stimulates red blood cell production is helpful in treating anemia (low red blood cell count).1 Sometimes people with MDS need a combination of red blood cell growth factors and white blood cell growth factors. Combining these growth factors has proven to be very effective in boosting red and white blood cell production.1,2
  
• Immunosuppressive therapy: Immunosuppressive therapy uses drugs that suppress the body’s immune system to treat some types of MDS.1
• Chemotherapy: Intensive chemotherapy is used to treat patients who are considered to be in the higher-risk MDS category. For patients younger than age 60 who have high-risk MDS and good health status, chemotherapy may be an appropriate therapy option.1
  
• Bone marrow transplantation (BMT): BMT is the only proven cure for MDS, but it rarely is used for patients older than age 40. This is true for two reasons: (1) BMT usually relies on bone marrow donation from a sibling, and this is harder to achieve in an older patient group. (2) The treatment is physically demanding and often older MDS patients are not good candidates for it.3,1 Given the physical demands of BMT and the limited availability of donors, alternative methods are being studied.4

Visit the Latest Developments page to learn about MDS treatments on the horizon.