title: Neither serum ferritin nor the number of red blood cell transfusions affect overall survival in refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts.
abstract: In a retrospective study of 126 adult patients with French-American-British-defined refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARS), staging by the International Prognostic Scoring System was highly predictive of survival outcome (P < 0.0001). In addition, red blood cell (RBC) transfusion requirement at diagnosis (P = 0.001), but not the number of RBC units transfused during the disease course (P = 0.17), was independently associated with inferior survival. There were no correlations between survival and serum ferritin level, measured either at diagnosis (median 567 ng/mL, range 16-3,475; P = 0.24) or during follow-up (median 1,108 ng/mL; range 238-43,500; P = 0.72). Similarly, there was no difference in survival when patients were stratified by serum ferritin levels of < or > or =1,000 ng/mL at diagnosis or peak serum ferritin levels of <1,000, 1,000-5,000, or >5,000 ng/mL during follow-up. The current study does not support the contention that transfusional hemosiderosis is an adverse prognostic factor in "good risk" myelodysplastic syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Cheng E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Chee
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Steensma
authors.forename: Wenting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Curtis A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: Ayalew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tefferi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000756:Anemia, Sideroblastic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins