Myelodysplastic syndromes: a community hospital-based study of prognostic factors and International Prognostic...

Various prognostic factors and the International Prognosis Scoring System (IPSS) were assessed in our community hospital-based retrospective study of 55 cases of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). All cases were reviewed for clinical, hematologic, histopathologic, and cytogenetic data. The median follow-up was 1.61 years. Twenty patients (36%) were classified as refractory anemia (RA); seven (13%) as refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARS); 13 (24%) as chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML); 11 (20%) as refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB); and four (7%) as refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation (RAEB-t). Twenty-seven (49%) died during the follow-up period, seven with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The median survival was 2.8 years. The variables that showed association with survival by univariate analysis included the absolute neutrophil count, French-American-British (FAB) subtype, percentage of blasts, number of cytopenias, abnormal localization of immature precursors, and IPSS score. When entered into a regression model, IPSS showed a trend towards an association with survival (P 0.09). We conclude that the IPSS can prognostically stratify MDS patients. However, no independent prognostic factor was confirmed in our analysis. Further studies are needed to assess the utility of IPSS.