As with all cancers, treatment for myeloid malignancies is typically coordinated by a cancer care team, typically  coordinated by a medical oncologist. For children, other specialists on the team may include:

• Pediatric oncologist
• Hematologist
• Radiation oncologist
• Pediatric surgeon

Treatments for myeloid malignancies may be provided alone or in various combinations. Common methods used to these diseases include:

• Chemotherapy. Uses powerful drugs to destroy cancer cells and to help prevent the cancer from spreading to other areas in the body. 
  
  
• Radiation therapy. Uses high-energy rays to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. It may be ordered to treat leukemia that has spread to the spinal fluid or organs. Radiation therapy may be ordered before a child undergoes a bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. On rare occasions, radiation treatment may be ordered as an emergency treatment to reduce the size of a mass pressing on the trachea.
  
  
• Bone marrow/stem cell transplant. Transplantation of bone marrow cells or peripheral blood stem cells. The stem cells may come from a matched donor or from the patients themselves. This is not a direct treatment for cancer, but helps the body to tolerate higher levels of chemotherapy, radiation therapy or a combination of both. In addition to destroying cancer cells, high dose therapies also destroy normal blood cells in the bone marrow. Patients who undergo transplantation receive an infusion of healthy stem cells through a vein after high-dose therapies. As a result of the infusion, new blood cells begin to develop from the transplanted cells.
  

Children with myeloid malignancies are usually treated immediately and aggressively in order to destroy the cancer cells and put the disease in remission. This is known as remission induction therapy. Once the signs and symptoms of the disease disappear, additional therapy may be given to destroy any remaining cancer cells and prevent a relapse. This is known as postremission therapy or consolidation therapy.

Usually, stem cell transplantation is considered the only treatment option for children with myelodysplastic syndromes. Among children with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), transplantation also offers the best chance of a cure. Watchful waiting is a method of closely monitoring a child’s condition without providing any treatment until symptoms appear or change. This method is occasionally used to treat myelodysplastic syndromes.

A child’s prognosis and treatment options for these diseases depend on a number of factors. The factors vary for the specific type of malignancy; however, general considerations include:

• The child’s age and overall health
• The type or subtype of malignancy
• The white cell, red cell, and platelet blood count at diagnosis
• The presence and number of blast cells (immature cells)
• Any signs of metastasis
• Genetic and chromosome abnormalities
• Severity of cell abnormality
• Any previous cancers or cancer treatment