Treatment Options for Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Supportive Therapy for Myelodysplastic Syndromes

A variety of supportive therapy strategies are available for the management of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) including:

• Transfusions

  • red blood cell transfusions are used to control anemia
  • transfusion of platelets is used to prevent bleeding and bruising complications
  • because frequent red blood cell transfusions can lead to excess deposition of iron in organs such as the heart or liver, patients should be given desferoxamine (Desferal) which can mobilize and hasten the excretion of iron.

• Growth Factors

  • growth factors such as G-CSF (Neupogen) and GM-CSF (Leukine) are used to treat infection by increasing the number of white blood cells
  • erythropoietin (Procrit) is used in MDS patients with anemia to increase hemoglobin and hematocrit