Cost of MDS-Pediatric Myelodysplastic Syndrome in India

This is a rare disease of the blood, only occurring in four out of every 1 million children. It develops in the bone marrow.

Types:

1. Refractory cytopenia of childhood: It is less than 5 percent blasts in bone marrow.
2. Refractory anemia with excess blasts: It is 5 to 20 percent of blasts in the bone marrow.
3. RAEB in transformation: It is 21 to 30 percent of blasts in the bone marrow.

MDS occurs when the bone marrow does not properly produce sufficient numbers of healthy red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

• Physical examination
• Blood tests
• Bone marrow tests

Treatment options:

1. Blood transfusion can be used to replace red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets in people with myelodysplastic syndromes.
2. Medications aimed at increasing the number of blood cells the body makes, stimulating blood cells to mature, suppressing the immune system, helping people with a certain genetic abnormality and treating infections.
3. Bone marrow transplant, also known as a stem cell transplant, involves high doses of chemotherapy drugs to clear out the defective blood cells from the bone marrow. Then the abnormal bone marrow stem cells are replaced with healthy, donated cells.