Background: MDS is a clonal disorder of hematopoietic precursors and stem cells, which may evolve to a terminal phase resembling acute leukemia. A subject of clinical urgency for researchers, clinicians, patients, and health care underwriters such as Medicare, is the role of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) in the treatment of older patients with higher risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The use of reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens has extended HCT to the care of older patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and lymphoma and a number of retrospective and phase II trials for patients with MDS now show the curative potential of RIC alloHCT in selected patients.