title: Detection of risk groups in myelodysplastic syndromes. A multicenter study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a group of heterogeneous hematologic disorders with risk of leukemic evolution (LE). The French-American-British (FAB) co-operative group classifies them into five morphologic entities and the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) proposes four groups of risk on the basis of clinical and cytogenetic variables. The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of the IPSS in our Argentine population, to test the prognostic value of its variables and to determine whether this score helps to associate prognostic subgroups of risk into FAB subtypes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and thirty-four patients with primary MDS and a median follow-up of 28 months were evaluated using univariate analyses to determine median survival (SV) and the time to LE. The variables analyzed were FAB classification, IPSS, percentage of myeloblasts, cytogenetic groups of risk and number of cytopenias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Univariate analyses showed that all variables analyzed were predictive for SV and for LE in our MDS population. Application of the IPSS allowed discrimination into the 4 groups of risk and helped to identify prognostic subclasses among the FAB classification, associating 5%, 15% and 19% of cases with worse prognosis within the FAB classification of refractory anemia (RA), RA with ringed sideroblasts and RA with excess of blasts (RAEB), respectively. The IPSS was not informative for RAEB in transformation cases and would not be applied to patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This score could be applied to our MDS population, showing no geographic differences. Stratification of FAB patients according to IPSS would be helpful to develop risk-adapted therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas Martino R. Castex, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Pacheco de Melo 3081, CP 1425, Capital Federal, Argentina. lacuteci@intramed.net.ar
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belli
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Acevedo
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bengio
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arrossagaray
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watman
authors.forename: Norma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: Sofía
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldztein
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Larripa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000782:Aneuploidy; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D001856:Bone Marrow Examination; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D011289:Preleukemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis