Active clinical trials for "Myelodysplastic Syndromes"

RATIONALE: Giving low doses of chemotherapy and total-body irradiation before a donor umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant helps stop the growth of cancer or abnormal cells. It also stops the patient's immune system from rejecting the donor's stem cells. The donated stem cells may replace the patient's immune cells and help destroy any remaining cancer or abnormal cells (graft-versus-tumor effect). Sometimes the transplanted cells from a donor can also make an immune response against the body's normal cells. Giving tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil before the transplant may stop this from happening. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant works in treating patients with hematologic cancer or other disease.

This research study is studying identification of de novo Fanconi anemia in younger patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia. Studying samples of tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors identify and learn more about biomarkers related to Fanconi anemia in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

We are interested in patient-specific factors that may affect the balance of recipient cells and donor cells in patients who receive stem cell transplants. We will look at the way the patient's body breaks down two drugs, fludarabine and mycophenolate mofetil, and how these two drugs affect the patient's body.

The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of myeloid neoplasms characterized by abnormal differentiation and maturation of myeloid cells, reduced bone marrow (BM) function, and a genetic instability with enhanced risk to transform to secondary acute myeloid leukemia, AML

The purpose of this study is to compare treatment methods and outcomes of patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

Allogeneic transplantation is used to treat many malignant and non-malignant diseases. The investigators and others have shown that less toxic preparative regimens (reduced intensity or 'mini' transplants) allow reliable allogeneic engraftment and durable remissions, significantly broadening the population of patients who may be offered this therapy to those who are older and more infirmed. The field is now focusing on the period post transplant for approaches to immune recovery leading to improved outcomes. The primary objective of this registry is to catalogue data from patients who undergo standard of care reduced intensity allogeneic transplantation.

In the era of hypomethylating agent in MDS treatment, the investigators aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of mutations in spliceosome machinery genes (SRSF2, U2AF1, and ZRSR2) on the outcomes of 1st line decitabine treatment in MDS.

This clinical study will provide the study specimens (samples of bone marrow and blood) and the clinical data for a pan-Canadian collaborative research project developed by the MDS/AML Research Consortium. The goal of this project involves the evaluation and potential validation of five novel prognostic tests for myelodysplasia (MDS) and/or acute myeloid leukemia (AML), as well as an analysis of health economic and socio-ethical implications related to the potential introduction of these tests into the clinical setting. The over-arching goal is to improve the outcomes of patients with MDS and AML. The primary hypothesis is that one or more of the laboratory tests being evaluated in conjunction with this study, either alone or in combination with other laboratory tests (either established or under investigation in this project), will have statistically significant prognostic value either alone or in combination with established clinical risk factors. The clinical study will involve the enrollment of 200 adults with AML and 200 adults with MDS over a 2.5 year period. Participants will be followed on study for two years. Bone marrow and blood specimens will be collected at diagnosis and at other time points as required for the development of the five laboratory tests. Participants will be assigned to treatment according to local institutional practice and will be followed for up to 2 years. Health economic and quality of life questionnaires will be administered at key time points. Data will be collected regarding participant characteristics, diagnosis, disease features, treatment and clinical outcome.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation between quality of life (QoL) and hemoglobin in patients affected by myelodysplastic syndrome and to compare the MDS (MyeloDisplastic Syndrome) patient's self-assessed QoL according to physician's evaluation

The purpose of this study is to learn about possible changes in brain anatomy and in thinking abilities, such as memory skills, in patients with cancer who receive treatment with chemotherapy alone or in combination with total body radiation before undergoing stem cell transplantation.