title: Proposed changes in the definitions of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome: are they helpful?
abstract: For most of the 20th century, subclassification of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was based on the resemblance of blasts to normal hematopoiesis. This approach was standardized by the French-American-British (FAB) group. Because of limited clinical relevance, clinicians resorted to other patient characteristics to determine treatment and predict outcome in AML. A different approach based on the relationship of a case to myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) has been proposed. The new World Health Organization (WHO) subclassification of AML includes elements of this new proposal but retains as a major category the historical subclassification. The WHO group has also proposed modifications of the FAB subclassification of MDS. These MDS proposals have generated discussion of diagnostic criteria for MDS and a philosophical discussion of whether MDS should still be considered a syndrome, or rather a specific set of diseases characterized by genetic instability and poor outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-5310, USA. david.head@mcmail.vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Head
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D006801:Humans; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D014944:World Health Organization