What are the differences between Aplastic Anemia and MDS?
The biggest difference between the two diseases is that in Aplastic Anemia the bone marrow is producing normal blood cells, but isn’t making enough of them (hypoplastic bone marrow); in MDS the bone marrow may be stuffed with cells (hyperplastic bone marrow), but these cells are ‘cloned’ from an abnormal stem cell. This means they do not function properly as mature ‘differentiated’ cells. The end result is similar to Aplastic Anemia—not enough of the right kind of cells for each job.
