Treatments for MDS
After diagnosis has been made, your doctor will decide on a treatment for your myelodysplastic syndrome. To determine the best treatment for you, your doctor will consider the type of MDS you have and how severe it is.
The treatment will also depend on the type of symptoms you are experiencing, your doctor may decide that you both just take a watchful waiting approach. If your symptoms are mild your doctor might just want to do regular check-ups.
In some cases your doctor may recommend what is known as “low-intensity treatment.” These may include:
- Chemotherapy drugs: These are also used for treating leukemia.
- Immunosuppressive therapy: This treatment tries to stop your immune system from attacking your marrow. That can eventually help you rebuild your blood count.
- Blood transfusions: These are common, safe, and might help some people with low blood counts.
- Iron chelation: You can get too much iron in your blood if you have a lot of transfusions. This therapy can reduce how much of that mineral you have.
- Growth factors: These man-made hormones “encourage” your bone marrow to make more blood cells.
In more severe cases, you might need a “high-intensity treatment.” They include:
- Stem cell transplant: This is the only treatment that can actually cure myelodysplastic syndrome. Your doctor will order a series of chemotherapy or radiation sessions to destroy cells in your bone marrow. You’ll then get stem cells from a donor. Stem cells can come from bone marrow or they can come from blood. These cells then start to make new blood cells in your body.
- Combo chemotherapy: This is when you may get several types of chemotherapy and is considered “high intensity.”