Quote:
Originally Posted by cheri
Induction Chemo put AML into remission, but underlying MDS resurfaced.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg H
Everything I have read indicates that secondary MDS is tougher to treat, but I'm not sure that you have secondary MDS. That's generally used to describe MDS that crops up a few years after chemo or radiation therapy for some other condition.
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Disease classifications are a bit arbitrary. That doesn't mean that doctors and researchers aren't rigorous, just that they have to pick cutoff points to organize patient data into groups. If a patient has 19% blasts and certain other blood and marrow characteristics, they'll be told it's MDS Refractory Anemia with Excess Blasts. If the same same patient has 20% blasts the next day they'd be told it's AML. So I think Greg is right and that your bone marrow failure isn't two diseases taking turns, but one condition changing over time.
Data shows that secondary MDS typically shows up about five to seven years following chemotherapy or radiation. That doesn't fit your history. But knowing what's easier to treat or harder to treat is a matter of statistics over a larger number of patients. What matters is finding the best treatment for you as things stand right now.
If your doctor can consult with Dr. List I think it would be very useful. And if not Dr. List there are other MDS experts around the country. Many are mentioned in these forums. Another way to identify some of them is to look at the speakers on the agendas of the
AA&MDSIF regional conferences.