Diagnosis and therapy of myelodysplastic syndromes in Germany: a retrospective multicenter analysis

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogenous group of clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders.

In order to assess current diagnosis and treatment patterns in Germany, the data of 269 patients with MDS from 57 representative centers were analyzed.

The most common symptom leading to an initial diagnosis of MDS was anemia (79%). WHO classification, cytogenetic analysis, and IPSS scoring were performed in 92, 67, and 61% of patients, respectively. 5q deletions were identified in 34% of patients whose cytogenetic status was analyzed. Symptomatic anemia was the major trigger for initiating therapy. 49% of patients received supportive care only, and 49% received active therapy (i.e., chemo-, immunomodulatory, or epigenetic therapy), including 5% who received allogeneic transplantation. Of those patients treated with active therapy, approximately half of the higher-risk patients received azacitidine, and approximately half of the lower-risk patients received lenalidomide. Overall, 80% of patients received some form of supportive care, mainly red blood cell transfusions.

While the WHO classification system is widely used in clinical practice, karyotyping and IPSS risk assessment do not seem to be common standard. Despite encouraging data on the use of effective and novel drugs, such as lenalidomide and azacitidine in MDS therapies, management of the disease could be further improved by more widespread use of risk stratification of patients using cytogenetics and IPSS assessment.