title: Myelodysplastic syndromes: aspects of current medical care and economic considerations in Germany.
abstract: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of diseases mainly affecting older people. The use of an increasing number of therapeutic options depends on a systematic risk stratification of the patients. A high percentage of MDS patients need blood transfusions as supportive care, which influence quality of life and cause a great part of the costs generated by MDS therapy. In this article which is based on a workshop about the burden of MDS held in October 2006 in Munich, MDS is discussed with regard to different aspects: current therapies, transfusion medicine, geriatrics, quality of life, and health economic aspects.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gattermann
authors.forename: Wolf-Karsten
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meessen
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsamaloukas
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vollmer
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wedding
authors.forename: Carlotta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plesnila-Frank
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schramm
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*