What are effective treatments for myelodysplastic syndromes (mds)?

It depends: Treatment of mds will vary according to the clinical situation and a variety of findings on bone marrow such as the percentage of blasts, cytogenetic abnormalities and need for transfusions.

Treatment options: As mentioned it depends on the clinical situation. Sometimes treatment is just with observation, transfusions when needed. Drugs called growth factors can be used in some situations. There are some chemotherapy drugs that are effective and for aggressive cases a stem cell transplant can be used.

See below...: Myelodysplastic syndromes (mds) represent a group of bone marrow cancers similar to leukemias in many respects but usually with a less aggressive evolution. Like many other types of cancer, treatment includes chemotherapy and sometimes bone marrow transplantation; however, if the mds is low grade sometimes treatment is not necessary, at least not initially (watchful waiting).