Hi Sarah,
As towncarlady has written patients with MDS have different diseases and they respond differently to treatment.
The best drug for most patients is not Dacogen (decitabine) but Vidaza (azacitidine).
A little more than 50% of the patients respond to Vidaza
http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/4/562.
About 16% resond to Dacogen
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/718485
Then about 75% of the patients with a special chromosome aberration called 5q- respond to Relvimid.
Do you know anything about your Grandpa's test results?
Many patients, like me, are afraid of adverse reactions and prefer to only accept supportive therapy like packed red blood cell transfusions and drugs for low white blood cells. We hope to be able to get newer drugs for low platelets in the future.
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
71 yo, dx MDS Interm-1 May 2006, transfusion dependent from dx, Neupogen for low white blood cells, Desferal and Exjade for iron overload, asymptomatic.