How MDS Affects the Blood

MDS or Myelodysplastic Syndromes, formerly known as pre-leukemia, are defined as a group of diseases in which the production of all types of blood cells is disrupted. The body of the person with MDS is no longer producing enough number of normal and healthy red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets.

The bone marrow normally produces ‘blasts’ or unformed cells that naturally form into red or white red blood cells or platelets. But the bone marrow of MDS patients produces blasts in abnormally large number but only a few blood cells develop properly.