Myelodysplastic Treatment

Overview. Treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome aims to relieve symptoms, slow down progression of the disease and improve quality of life. Treatment options range from supportive care that helps relieve symptoms to aggressive treatment that may slow or prevent progression of the disease. Ultimately, there are three standard forms of treatment for myelodysplastic syndromes:

Supportive Care. Some patients have a mild and slowly progressive course and respond to blood transfusions or medications, such as erythropoietin, to increase the number of red blood cells.

Chemotherapy. This treatment uses potent drugs to eradicate, shrink, slow the growth of cancer, or prevent it from spreading. Typically, a combination of drugs is administered intravenously (directly into the veins) in a series of treatments over a period of weeks or months, with breaks in between so that the patient’s body can recover.

Chemotherapy with Stem Cell Transplant. Chemotherapy with stem cell transplant is a method of giving chemotherapy and replacing blood-forming cells destroyed by the cancer treatment. The stem cell transplantation process is a complex and lengthy one. Stem cells (immature blood cells) are removed from the blood or bone marrow of the patient or a donor and are frozen and stored. The patient is then treated with high doses of drugs, which destroy both the abnormal and normal blood cells in the bone marrow. After the chemotherapy is completed, the stored stem cells are thawed and given back to the patient through an infusion. These re-infused stem cells grow into (and restore) the body’s blood cells.

Stem cell transplants occur in specialized centers around the state and country. The Lacks Cancer Center partners with those centers to provide this key inpatient therapy at those centers.

Seek the most aggressive treatments available from our multidisciplinary team with a referral from your primary care physician or with a self-referral by calling 1-877-LACKS-MI or 616-685-LACK(S).