To initiate a treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome, the physician should consider the patient's age, status performance and the risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and death. In theory, a high risk disease should be approached with intense treatment however most patients are not healthy enough to receive aggressive treatment with chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation. For those who are not able to receive a transplantation, the treatment options include AML-like chemotherapy, hypomethylating agents, supportive care alone or participation in a clinical trial. AML-like chemotherapy is still a reasonable choice for those patients who are in good clinical conditions and are younger than 65 years of age.
Myelodysplastic syndrome; treatment; chemotherapy
