Myelodysplastic syndromes

Abstract

BACKGROUND. Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) became reportable to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (the United States cancer surveillance program) in 2001. This provided the first opportunity to examine the incidence and survival of patients with MDS in the United States using a large, population‐based database. METHODS. The SEER 17 regions public‐use database (November 2005 submission) was accessed to obtain data on the frequency, incidence, and survival of patients with MDS. Geographic areas were selected for inclusion in the SEER Program based on their ability to operate and maintain a high‐quality, population‐based cancer reporting system and for their epidemiologically significant population subgroups. RESULTS. SEER data from 2001 through 2003 indicated that the risk of MDS increased with age, and approximately 86% of MDS cases were diagnosed in individuals aged ≥60 years (median age at diagnosis = 76 years). Men had a significantly higher incidence rate than women (4.5 vs 2.7 per 100,000 per year). Among racial groups, white individuals had the highest incidence rate. In 2003, approximately 10,300 incident cases of MDS were diagnosed in the United States. The survival of MDS patients was poor, with an observed 3‐year survival rate of only 35% (5‐year survival data were not available at the time of the current report). Male patients and patients who were diagnosed at an older age had significantly worse survival. MDS survival also varied by clinical subtype, and the survival of patients who had refractory anemia was somewhat worse than reported previously. The availability of descriptive epidemiologic data on MDS can be used now to facilitate much needed research on the etiology and outcome of MDS. CONCLUSIONS. The current results indicated that >10,000 incident cases of MDS are diagnosed annually in the United States, and the survival of patients with MDS is poor. The availability of descriptive epidemiologic data on MDS can be used now to facilitate much needed research on the etiology and outcomes of MDS. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.

Health care utilization and risk of infection and bleeding among patients with myelodysplastic syndromes with/without transfusions, and with/without active therapy

“…Patients with MDS commonly require chronic red blood cell (RBC) transfusions which can lead to iron overload resulting in eventual damage to the liver, heart and pancreas, and there is an increased risk of cardiac events for transfused patients when compared with non-transfused patients [2]. A 2007 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) report [3] estimated that over 10 000 new cases of MDS were diagnosed in the USA between 2001 and 2003, but other studies have reported higher incidence estimates based on Medicare claims [4,5]. …”

Very-Low-Dose Decitabine Is Effective in Treating Intermediate- or High-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome

“…Although decitabine 20 mg/m 2 /day for 5 days has achieved great success in the treatment of MDS with a remarkably high complete response rate (32-39%) [2,5,6], the main reasons for early discontinuation of decitabine, other than treatment failure, were severe infection and hemorrhage due to BM suppression, especially for particularly weak or elderly patients. On the other hand, in China, many patients give up therapy because of the economic burden, even among responders.…”

“…The incidence of MDS increases markedly with age, with approximately 86% of patients diagnosed over the age of 60 years (the median age is 76 years) [2]. The only curative therapy for MDS is allogeneic stem cell transplantation, which is usually not applicable to elderly patients because of their poorer physical condition.…”

Prospects and Challenges of Reprogrammed Cells in Hematology and Oncology

“…A heterozygous mutation of the hematopoietic transcription factor RUNX1, regulating large parts of MK development and maturation, results in familial platelet disorder (FPD), a disease characterized by a deficiency in platelet formation [138][139][140]. During lifetime, patients develop an increasing risk of attaining AML or MDS (20-60%), which is commonly associated with a poor prognosis [141,142]. Combining an excisable lentiviral polycistron encoding for OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and cMYC and a small molecule-assisted approach, we could recently derive iPSCs from a patient suffering from congenital FPD, which will be employed as model for FPD and secondary leukemic aberrations [48].…”