Maturation Pattern and Evolution of Leukemia in the Myelodysplastic Syndrome

Abstract

In a cell-kinetic study of a patient with preleukemia who developed overt acute myeloid leukemia (AML) 2 years later we were able to show that the essential kinetic abnormalities of AML were already present in the preleukemic state [4]. With the data of this patient a model was developed that conceived the progression of leukemia in this case as a continuous process from the first observation on without any further transformational event taking place during preleukemia [3]. A prospective study of MDS was performed to verify whether this observation represented a general rule or only an exception. A report on chromosomal findings in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) by Tricot et al. [14] suggested that both types of leukemic evolution may indeed be found, although no detailed data were provided. The evaluations of this prospective study have recently been communicated in detail [5–7] and are summarized in this report.