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Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Treatments
MDS Treatments
Our Cancer Center doctors plan your treatment using recently developed National Practice Guidelines. These guidelines are based on advances we have made in evaluating the prognosis of MDS patients. Different treatments are available based on your specific subtype of MDS and any related problems.
MDS treatment options include:
- Chemotherapy: The use of anticancer drugs to shrink or kill cancerous cells and reduce cancer spreading to other parts of the body. Learn more about chemotherapy.
- Drug therapy, such as antibiotics
- Stem cell transplant: We replace the blood-forming cells that were destroyed by cancer treatment. This helps the bone marrow recover and continue to make healthy blood cells. Learn more about stem cell transplant.
- Supportive care: This refers to care we provide that helps relieve pain or discomfort caused by the disease or its treatment. Supportive care may include transfusions and antibiotics.
- Transfusion therapy: We give you red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets to replace blood cells destroyed by disease or cancer treatment. The blood may be donated from another person, or we may take it from you before treatment and stored it until needed.
- Watchful waiting: Watchful waiting is closely monitoring a patient's condition without giving any treatment until symptoms appear or change.
Clinical Trials for MDS
In addition to providing supportive care, clinical trials offer treatment options with new medications.
Talk to your doctor about enrolling in one of our clinical trials testing low-intensity therapy, high-intensity therapy, and new medications for MDS:
- Eltrombopag (platelet stimulating drug)
- Rigosertib
- Anti-Ephrin receptor-3 antibody (KB-004)
- 5-Azacytidine plus lenalidomide
Low-intensity therapy
Low-intensity therapy usually does not require a hospital stay. You will most likely experience fewer side effects. Low-intensity therapy includes medications such as:
- Erythropoietin or G-CSF plus erythropoietin
- 5 azacytidine
- Decitabine
- Lenalidomide
- Deferasirox (iron chelating agent)
High-intensity therapy
High-intensity therapy usually requires a hospital stay. You may experience side effects from the treatments. Our team will work with you to minimize any pain or discomfort you experience.
- Bone marrow transplantation: standard and reduced intensity conditioning
- Intensive chemotherapy
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may have access to the latest, advanced clinical trials.
Open trials refer to studies currently accepting participants. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but may open in the future.