Soon, India will have treatment guidelines on this neglected disease

LUCKNOW: IN MYELODYSPLASTIC SYNDROMES, THE BLOOD COUNT (RBC, WHILE BLOOD CELLS AND PLATELET) GOES DOWN. .

India will soon have treatment guidelines on Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) – a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature or become healthy blood cells.

Prof AK Tripathi, member of ICMR’s (Indian Council of Medical Research) MDS committee said that so far the disease has remained neglected as anaemia. “However, when it converts into chronic blood cancer, even bone marrow transplant cannot assure the patient of a long life,” he said. Prof Tripathi is president, Indian Society of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.

e added, “Till now, in India, there has been no registry of MDS, which, unlike in the west, is catching up with young patients here – of ages 30 years and above. In western countries, MDS patients mostly fall in the age group 50-70 years.”

ICMR’s MDS committee has experts from different medical institutes of the country. The draft guidelines have been submitted to ICMR. These will be published for public opinion and, after necessary amendments, will be issued for implementation. The guidelines include diagnosis, treatment and registry for patients of MDS and focus on early diagnosis.

“About 70% cancer patients in India come to doctors when their disease is in the second or third stage, which makes treatment difficult,” said Prof Tripathi.

MDS refers to a heterogeneous group of closely related clonal haematopoietic disorders commonly found in aging populations. In this disease, the blood count (red blood cells, while blood cells and platelet) goes down. Advanced stages of MDS require bone marrow test for diagnosis.“So far, it has been a neglected disease in the country but now, with proper guidelines, lives can be saved,” said Prof Tripathi.