Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyse the clinico-pathological features of a cohort of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
Materials and methods: The clinical and pathological data of 43 MDS patients over a 3-year period were reviewed. Survival analysis was performed according to the French-American-British (FAB) classification and International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) using the Kaplan-Meier method. Selected published studies for comparison were identified from MEDLINE search.
Results: The patients were followed up for a median duration of 175 days (range, 2 to 1044 days). The median survival for refractory anaemia (RA) and refractory anaemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARS) has not been reached, but that for refractory anaemia with excess blasts (RAEB), refractory anaemia with excess blasts in transformation (RAEB-T) and chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) was 250 days, 49 days and 44 days, respectively. The median survival for the low-risk and intermediate-1 IPSS categories has not been reached, while that for the intermediate-2 and high-risk categories was 58 days and 49 days, respectively. The survival analyses, according to the FAB classification and IPSS system, were statistically significant (P <0.05). Comparison of our data with those from neighbouring and Western countries revealed both similarity and disparity. We also noted different cytogenetic information in our cohort of patients.
Conclusions: We found distinctly unique cytogenetic and clinico-pathological characteristics in our MDS patients. However, whether true biological differences exist among MDS patients in different geographies and populations with different genetic and environmental backgrounds require further large multinational study.