RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the age of onset, gender ratio, clinical presentation of Myelodysplastic syndrome patients, and to classify these patients according to French-American-British classification on the basis of morphological features in blood and bone marrow. STUDY DESIGN: A case series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The Department of Haematology, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, from April 2004 to March, 2007. METHODOLOGY: Fifty patients of primary Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) were studied. The patients were classified according to French-American-British (FAB) criteria and the epidemiological, clinical and haematological features of MDS patients were evaluated. Descriptive statistics were used to describe data. RESULTS: There were 31 males and 19 females. The mean age was 41 years. According to FAB classification, 39 cases of refractory anaemia, 1 case of refractory anaemia with ring sideroblast, 6 cases of refractory anaemia with excess of blasts and 4 cases of refractory anaemia with excess of blasts in transformation were identified. The commonest complaint was easy fatiguability affecting 41 cases (82%). Anaemia was the most common finding seen in 47 patients (94%). Pancytopenia was seen in 33 cases (66%). Dyserythropoeisis was present in 42 (84%); dysmyelopoeisis was seen in 21 (42%) and morphologically abnormal megakaryocytes were identified in 29 (58%) of the bone marrow aspirates. Grade- III reticulosis was seen in 9 bone marrow trephine biopsies. Abnormal localization of immature precursors (ALIP) were present in 18 cases. CONCLUSION: MDS was more frequent in young males. Refractory anaemia constituted a major chunk of the disease entity.