Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of myeloid malignancies characterized by multilineage cytopenias, including anemia1
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies MDS as neoplastic and therefore cancer2
- MDS are characterized by:
- Bone marrow dysfunction2,3
- Dysplasia2,3
- Genomic instability2
- Peripheral blood cytopenias2,3
- Ineffective hematopoiesis3
Anemia is present in the majority of patients with MDS1
- At diagnosis, anemia is the most common cytopenia present in patients with MDS1*
- 94% of patients with MDS received RBC transfusions in the SEER-Sound registry of 783 patients from 2001 to 20074
- 13% of all patients with MDS requiring RBC transfusions had ring sideroblasts4
*Determined in a database analysis of 7012 patients with untreated MDS from 11 countries for the International Working Group for the Prognosis of MDS (IWG-PM) project.1

Based on the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), MDS management approaches differ according to MDS subtype and severity of disease5