Why chemo?

[Michael R]

My father-in-law is in his mid 70s and was diagnosed with MDS. Why is the doctor treating him with chemo when chemo can actually be a cause for MDS? Won’t that make it worse? BTW, he’s never had to have chemo or radiation to treat any other kind of illness, so they don’t know what “triggered” his MDS.

[Sharon Austermuehle]

They do chemo because MDS can progress to Leukemia. Yes chemo or radiation can be a cause of MDS as well as working or being exposed to benzene. Cigarettes have benzene so even second hand smoke can be a factor. I never smoked or worked in a environment with benzene. My parents smoked and all those years of people smoking in public places could have been a factor, but for me I think it was just bad luck. This link answers the why chemo, it’s from the American cancer society. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/myelodysplasticsyndrome/detailedguide/myelodysplastic-syndromes-treating-chemotherapy
I strongly suggest you ask his doctor questions or call the American Cancer society, they have been a good resource for me through this as well as when my mother had lung cancer.

[lewisahmed]

Because MDS can progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML), patients with MDS may receive the same treatment as AML patients. The chemo drug most often used for MDS is called cytarabine (ara-C). It can be given by itself in a low-dose, which can help control the disease, but doesn’t often put it into remission. This treatment is also used for older patients with AML.

Another option is to give the same chemo that is used in younger patients with AML. This means giving cytarabine at a higher dose along with other chemo drugs. This is more often used for advanced MDS (like refractory anemia with excess blasts). For the treatment of MDS, the chemo drugs most often combined with cytarabine are:

Idarubicin
Topotecan
Fludarabine

Web resource: Online nursing degree program

[Jeffrey T Clark]

I was diagnosed with MDS Unclassified w/o anemia and #7 deletion when I was 42. That was in 2007. It wasn’t until 2013 did I attempt chemo. Because my blood counts were all severally low the chemo dumped them even further creating long hospital stays and severe infections. After every chemo session completed I was in the hospital 2 to 3 weeks. I quit and my counts are back to just being low. But no more hospital stays or blood transfusions. Hospice was assigned to me as they didnt think I would make it and its been 2 years.
They do a really good job taking care of my pain which is stress and weather induced. So the Why Chemo question answer from me was no more chemo.
Big Hugs

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