The final day of the 2013 International Sym­posium on Myelo­dys­plastic Syn­dromes (MDS) took place a bit more than a week ago, on Saturday, May 11.

The program on the final day consisted mainly of two sessions of oral pre­senta­tions in the morning.  Those sessions were followed by closing remarks that concluded the symposium, which took place in Berlin, Germany.

The first of the two morning sessions focused on current research into the prognosis of MDS patients.

The second session featured presentations related to future areas of research and new drug …

The second full day of the 2013 International Symposium on Myelo­dys­plastic Syndromes (MDS) took place last Friday in Berlin, Germany.

The sessions last Friday morning were covered in a previous Beacon sympo­si­um update (see related Beacon news).

This update therefore turns its attention to the sessions that took place Friday afternoon.  Those sessions included two sets of oral presentations followed by a poster session at the end of the day.

Due to the significance of many of the afternoon’s presentations, this report is considerably longer than the two previous Beacon …

Friday was the second day of The International Symposium on Myelo­dys­plastic Syndromes (MDS), which was held in Berlin this year.  There were once again oral presentation sessions throughout the morning and most of the afternoon, followed by a poster session late in the afternoon.

This update focuses on the three sessions of oral presentations that took place Friday morning.  They covered the treatment of low-risk MDS, the treatment of high-risk MDS, and donor stem celll transplantation.

Treatment Of Low-Risk MDS

The first talk during the session on the treatment of …

Yesterday was the first full day of the 2013 Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Symposium being held in Berlin, Germany.  There was an opening ceremony the previous night, followed the next morning by the start of oral presentations that extended throughout most of the afternoon.  After the oral sessions ended, there was a 90-minute poster session that closed out the day.

Although the presentations during the poster session covered a range of MDS-related topics, there was a much more specific focus to the day’s oral presentations.

In particular, the oral presentations centered …

There are several questions that patients who are about to start Vidaza (aza­citi­dine) or Dacogen (decitabine) often ask.

In this column, we answer those questions so that patients can better under­stand how these drugs are used to treat myelodysplastic syn­dromes (MDS) and what decisions patients and doctors may need to make when treat­ing MDS with one of these two agents.

How do Vidaza and Dacogen work?

Vidaza and Dacogen are so-called hypomethylating agents. They are considered “lower-intensity therapies” in comparison to “conventional” cytotoxic chemo­thera­pies, as both Vidaza and Dacogen generally …