Hematologic Malignancies Program

Patient and Family Education

Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)

Symptoms of MDS

Many patients in the early stages of MDS experience no symptoms at all. In the chronic or non-progressive form of the disorder, the diagnosis may first be suspected from a finding of anemia during a medical evaluation.

If the anemia is moderate or severe, the patient may experience exaggerated fatigue, shortness of breath on exertion (such as while climbing stairs), pale skin or weakness.

MDS can cause a variety of signs and symptoms. Shortages of one or more types of blood cells cause most symptoms of MDS. Patients may have symptoms such as weight loss, fever and loss of appetite. Other symptoms include:

Excessive tiredness, shortness of breath and pale skin. This can be caused by anemia, a shortage of red blood cells.
Serious infections with high fevers. This can be caused by leukopenia (a lack of normal white blood cells) and granulocytopenia (too few mature granulocytes).
Excessive bruising and bleeding, such as frequent or severe nosebleeds and/or bleeding from the gums.

This page was last updated on: October 7, 2009.