Primary myelodysplastic syndrome: an analysis of 56 patients

A total of 56 patients were diagnosed as primary myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung from April 1986 to December 1991. The median age was 65 years with an equal sex ratio. All patients presented with anemia and 52% with pancytopenia. The overall median survival for the entire group was 7 months, in which the chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMMoL) was 7 months, and 4 months for each of the refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) or the refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation (RAEB-T), however, the median survival had not been reached at 27 months for refractory anemia (RA) and at 33 months for refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts (RARS). Low-does arabinosyl cytosine (Ara-C) was administered in 9 patients with RAEB and RAEB-T, but no survival benefit was noted. Infection, especially pneumonia, was the most common cause of death. In 61 febrile episodes with clinically suspected sepsis, 10 (17%) were documented to associate with bacteremia. Twelve patients (7 RAEB, 4 RAEB-T, and 1 CMMoL) evolved to acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), the median interval from diagnosis to evolution was 4.8 months. This series indicates that only two groups of FAB subtypes could be clearly separated in terms of morphological findings and clinical outcome; RA and RARS constitute a good prognostic group, whereas RAEB, CMMoL, and RAEB-T constitute a poor prognostic group.