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Palliative and End-of-Life Care in Myelodysplastic Syndromes

  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes (D Steensma, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

A growing literature demonstrates that MDS is associated with significant impairments in overall quality of life. Given the poor prognosis for many patients with MDS, and the considerable morbidities associated with this disease, there is a critical need to address palliative and end-of-life care needs in this population. However, palliative and end-of-life care issues are under-represented in the MDS literature. In this article, we highlight a growing body of literature that demonstrates unmet palliative and end-of-life care needs in hematologic malignancies, including MDS, and highlight opportunities for further research and quality improvement initiatives to address unmet needs in MDS care.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Correspondence to Thomas W. LeBlanc.

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Conflict of Interest

Myles Nickolich and Areej El-Jawahri each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Thomas W. LeBlanc was a consultant for Pfizer and Epi-Q/Janssen and a current consultant for Flatiron.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Myelodysplastic Syndromes

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Nickolich, M., El-Jawahri, A. & LeBlanc, T.W. Palliative and End-of-Life Care in Myelodysplastic Syndromes. Curr Hematol Malig Rep 11, 434–440 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11899-016-0352-z

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