title: Outcome of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes: experience from a single institution in South Australia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study disease characteristics of adult patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in South Australia and to analyse their outcome and survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and eight adult patients with confirmed MDS from marrow biopsies in the 76-month period before April 2006 were retrospectively included in an MDS database.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age at diagnosis of this cohort was 70 years, with skewing of refractory anaemia with excess blasts and refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia in the younger patients. Clonal cytogenetic abnormalities were present in 42% of patients. Median survival was 48 months, and secondary transformation to acute myeloid leukaemia was seen in 27%. Survival, according to the World Health Organization subtypes in ascending order, was refractory anaemia with excess blasts, refractory anaemia, refractory anaemia with ringed sideroblast, refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia and del(5q). The International Prognostic Scoring System score stratified MDS patients into different risk groups and effectively discriminated significantly different survivals, ranging from a median 4 months for high-risk patients to 72 months for low-risk patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An MDS database provides useful information regarding the disease characteristics and survival of MDS patients in South Australia and confirms the prognostic usefulness of the International Prognostic Scoring System. The future prospective collection of results will be invaluable in evaluating the effect of novel therapies on patient prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Haematology Department, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. chi-hung.hui@imvs.sa.gov.au
authors.forename: C-H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Horvath
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: L-B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: To
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Szabo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult