Fanconi Anaemia Australia
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Who is Fanconi Anaemia Australia?
Fanconi Anaemia Australia provides a variety of support services to families suffering Fanconi Anaemia, in addition to providing broad-based education doctors, carers, families and the general public. Fanconi Anaemia Australia was first established in February 2006 by Alan Howard-Jones as an Incorporated Association (FA Australia Incorporated). Alan's wife Charisse (now deceased) was a sufferer of Fanconi Anaemia, and following their attendance at Camp Sunshine in Maine USA in 2005, Alan founded the organisation to provide support to Australian families and to assist in increasing public awareness of the disorder. The organisation was restructured in 2007 as a Public company called Fanconi Anaemia Australia Ltd
Understanding Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)
Acknowledgements
Fanconi Anaemia Australia Ltd gratefully acknowledges The Leukaemia Foundation of Australia for granting us permission to use some of the material in their booklets and information sheets to provide the following information (Oct 2009)
What Is MDS?
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of diseases which all affect, to a greater or lesser extent, the production of normal blood cells in the bone marrow.
In MDS, abnormal bone marrow stem cells (called blast cells) produce increased numbers of immature blood cells. These cells do not grow properly and often die prematurely. This results in lower numbers of mature red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets being produced. The blood cells that do survive are often of poor quality, are abnormal in shape (dysplastic) and unable to function properly. The release of these abnormal cells from the bone marrow into the blood stream is also defective. This means that people with MDS often have a very active bone marrow but a low number of circulating blood cells. Without enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets you can become fatigued, more susceptible to infections, and to bleeding and bruising more easily.
In approximately 15 per cent of cases, people with MDS have very low numbers of cells in their bone marrow. This is referred to as ‘hypoplastic myelodysplasia’.
There are different types of MDS and the disease can vary in its severity and the degree to which normal blood cell production is affected. People with mild disease are often found to simply be anaemic, or they might have a lower than normal white blood cell or platelet count, but in many cases they have few, if any, troubling symptoms from their disease. In more severe cases, the lack of circulating blood cells is more pronounced, causing more symptoms.
Some cases of MDS, approximately 30 per cent overall, have the potential to progress to acute myeloid leukaemia, and MDS is therefore a pre-leukaemic disease.
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