Cytogenetic study of 88 cases of refractory anemia

Data obtained on 88 patients with refractory anemia or preleukemia, without previous cytotoxic treatment, showed medullar chromosomal abnormalities in 32%. In 45% of the cases, the disease had progressed to acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. A high frequency of acute transformation (78%) was observed in patients with abnormal clones. These results are different from those of the Second International Workshop on chromosomes in Leukemia. The discrepancies may be related to the difference between the cases selected for submission to the workshop and those of this study. Serial studies on 28 patients with abnormal karyotypes showed that two different populations of patients were investigated: one with a terminal smoldering phase of leukemia and the other with true preleukemic disease. In the latter group, no predictive karyotype evolution was seen.