What is the impact of being diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)? What are the physical/psychosocial ramifi cations of RBC transfusions to manage the extreme fatigue and weakness that accompany refractory anemia; of parenteral or oral iron chelation therapy for More>>

Abstract Innovations in the diagnosis, risk stratification, and treatment of the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) have provided several new therapeutic options and renewed hope for patients with the disease. Optimal treatment requires careful evaluation of each patient using newly established criteria. Identifying the common symptoms in the MDS patient, integrating new therapies with novel mechanisms of anti-tumor activity and unique toxicity profiles, and developing tools to assist patients... More>>

Mr. CH is a 71-year-old retired naval officer who works full time as an aerospace engineer. He began experiencing increasing lethargy and malaise in August 2000 at the age of 65. He was finding it difficult to concentrate and became tired by the end of the day. An evaluation by his primary care physician revealed anemia and iron deficiency. CH received a trial of iron and erythropoietin with no substantial improvement. His anemia progressed; he required his first red blood cell transfusion in... More>>

MGI Pharma, Inc, and SuperGen, Inc, recently announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the hypomethylating agent decitabine (Dacogen) for injection. Decitabine is indicated for treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) including previously treated and untreated, de novo, and secondary MDS of all French-American-British (FAB) subtypes (refractory anemia, refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts, refractory anemia with excess blasts, refractory anemia... More>>

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of hematologic malignancies of the pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells. These disorders are characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, including abnormalities in proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The overall clinical result is peripheral cytopenias in the setting of a normocellular or hypercellular bone marrow and a high incidence of transformation to acute leukemia. More>>

Myelodysplastic syndrome patients present with variable cytopenias even though their bone marrows are generally hypercellular. Excessive cytokine-induced apoptosis of hematopoietic cells in the marrows has been proposed as a possible More>>