According to a recent German study, a quick sequence of two drug regimens has shown promise as preparative therapy prior to stem cell transplantation in patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes.

The German regimen involves four days of treatment with fludarabine, amsacrine, and high-dose cytarabine followed, several days later, by a single high dose of melphalan.

The researchers investigating this regimen found that 97 percent of the patients who received it achieved complete remission within one month following their stem cell transplant.

Stem cell transplantation is currently the only potentially curative treatment available to patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

In this procedure, patients first receive one or more drugs intended…