[Clinical Signs of Myelodysplastic Syndrome]

Clinical Signs of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Abstract. Myelodysplastic syndromes are clonal stem cell disorders and are characterized by a mostly hypercellular bone marrow with insufficient, dysplastic hematopoiesis. In the course of life, somatic mutations are increasingly acquired due to the enormous cell turnover in the bone marrow, which can lead to MDS at a certain point. The course of the disease in MDS ranges from a mild course over many years to a rapid transition to acute leukemia. Clinically, the main focus is on cytopenias in one or more cell line with the resulting symptoms. In most cases anemia is present. In addition to cytopenias, increased inflammation and fatigue may also be prominent. The incidence of the disease increases markedly with age, so that progressive cytopenias should always suggest MDS after exclusion of substrate deficiency or other causes in the elderly.