Myelodysplastic syndrome

The Myelodysplastic syndrome video is telling about an illness that is sometimes referred to as pre-leukemia.

Cell Development
In myelodysplastic syndrome, mature cells die off quicker, and the STEM cell creates cells that look odd, and can't make it past the first stage of development. This causes a decrease in the number of myeloid cells.

In myelodysplastic syndrome, there is an abnormal amount of blasts. The amount is greater than the normal (2-3% of the bone marrow), but less than the amount in leukemia (>20% of the bone marrow). Myelodysplastic Syndrome: <20% blasts but >2-3% blasts Most patients with this syndrome will die before they get the second mutation that causes acute myeloid leukemia.