Myelodysplastic syndrome
Chapter: 20b
Clonal stem cell disorder with heterogeneous clinical and hematologic presentations. Myelodysplastic syndromes are characterized by dysplastic changes present in the myeloid cells, with or without an increase in blasts. Myelodysplastic syndromes are classified in the FAB system by several different features, which include quantitation of blasts in peripheral blood and bone marrow. Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome typically present with pancytopenia, usually do not have organomegaly, and chromosomal abnormalities are found in up to 50% of cases. The treatment for MDS is generally supportive but may include chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant in some cases. Those cases which progress to acute leukemia have a worse prognosis that de novo acute leukemia.