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DiscussionNew diagnosis DDX41 MDS-EB1: what made you start treatment?
Blood Cancers & Disorders | Last Active: 15 hours ago | Replies (4)Comment receiving replies
Replies to "Thank you, Lori -you are so helpful! I am starting to get the hang of this..."
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Hi @lhick - it is not unusual with DDX41 MDS to watch and wait, but you also need to watch your blood counts - especially neutrophils and platelets. The latter looks on a low side for your blast %.
I was diagnosed with DDX41 AML (which most likely developed on the back on DDX41 MDS) - this happened 15 months before I actually started the treatment - such long period is highly unusual for AML. Germline DDX41-driven MDS/AML is typically very indolent and in some cases may take years to develop when some more aggressive AMLs may take only a few weeks.
It is probably unlikely that your blasts declined - most likely it is just slight variation in different parts of the marrow and accuracy of the tests. At the same time the fact that that the blasts are not growing is a further evidence of the indolent nature of your MDS.
Just as a side note, your germline variant R339 looks slightly unusual. You somatic one on the oyster hand is by far the most common somatic variant for DDX41.