What is mds

People with mild disease are often found to simply be anaemic, or they might have a lower than normal white blood cell or platelet count, but in many cases they have few, if any, troubling symptoms from their disease. In more severe cases, the lack of circulating blood cells is more pronounced, causing more symptoms.

These subtypes are distinguished from each other by the degree to which normal blood cell production is affected, the number of blast cells present and the likelihood of transformation into acute myeloid leukaemia.

Knowing the exact type of MDS you have is important because it helps the doctor to decide on the best course of treatment to recommend for you. In this type of MDS, the red blood cells are most affected, causing anaemia. This type of MDS rarely transforms to leukaemia and treatment is regular observation or blood transfusion only. Red blood cells are affected, causing anaemia.

Read more here. Similar to RA, but in this case the red blood cells are unable to process the iron that normally goes into making haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of the red cell. Instead the iron granules are deposited in a way that forms a ring around the nucleus of a developing red blood cell — this is called a ringed sideroblast. One or more blood cell types are affected.

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Defective cells often die earlier than normal cells, and the body also destroys some abnormal blood cells, leaving the person without enough normal blood cells. Different cell types can be affected, although the most common finding in MDS is a shortage of red blood cells anemia. There are several different types of MDS , based on how many types of blood cells are affected and other factors.

In about 1 in 3 patients, MDS can progress to a rapidly growing cancer of bone marrow cells called acute myeloid leukemia AML. In the past, MDS was sometimes referred to as pre-leukemia or smoldering leukemia.

Because most patients do not get leukemia, MDS used to be classified as a disease of low malignant potential. Now that doctors have learned more about MDS, it is considered to be a form of cancer. Normal bone marrow Bone marrow is found in the middle of certain bones.

There are 3 main types of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Myelodysplastic Syndromes MDS are a group of diverse bone marrow disorders in which the bone marrow does not produce enough healthy blood cells.

MDS is primarily a disease of the elderly most patients are older than age 65 , but MDS can affect younger patients as well. To help you better understand MDS, it might be helpful to first consider some basics about bone marrow and blood. The bone marrow functions as a factory that manufactures three kinds of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Healthy bone marrow produces immature blood cells — called stem cells, progenitor cells, or blasts — that normally develop into mature, fully functional red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

In MDS, these stem cells may not mature and may accumulate in the bone marrow or they may have a shortened life span, resulting in fewer than normal mature blood cells in the circulation. Low blood cell counts, referred to as cytopenias, are a hallmark feature of MDS and are responsible for some of the symptoms that MDS patients experience — infection, anemia, spontaneous bleeding, or easy bruising. Anemia low red blood cell counts , neutropenia low white blood cell counts , and thrombocytopenia low platelet counts are the major types of blood cell cytopenias, and are discussed below.

In addition to reduced numbers of blood cells, the mature blood cells circulating in the blood may not function properly because of dysplasia. The formal definition of dysplasia is the abnormal shape and appearance, or morphology, of a cell. The prefix myelo- is from the Greek and it means marrow; so myelodysplasia refers to the abnormal shape and appearance — or morphology — of the mature blood cells.

Syndromes comes from the Greek and means a set of symptoms that occur together. Failure of the bone marrow to produce mature healthy cells is a gradual process, and therefore MDS is not necessarily a terminal disease. To read more about the effects of MDS on blood cells, click here to view our complete handbook. With a few exceptions, the exact causes of MDS are unknown. Some evidence suggests that certain people are born with a tendency to develop MDS. This tendency can be thought of as a switch that is triggered by an external factor.

Radiation and chemotherapy for cancer are among the known triggers for the development of MDS. Long term exposure to certain environmental or industrial chemicals, such as benzene, can also trigger MDS. There are no known food or agricultural products that cause MDS.