Transplant for MDS: Challenges and emerging strategies

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only curative treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome. Major improvements in the field of allogeneic stem cell transplantation have made it a better tolerated treatment that can be offered to older patients and patients with co-morbidities. However, treatment related toxicities, graft versus host disease, infectious complications and relapse remain major problems post transplant. With better understanding of disease biology and prognosis and with different types of conditioning regimens as well as different graft sources, a transplant strategy should be tailored to the individual host to maximize the benefits of this procedure.