Myelodysplastic syndrome: a search for minimal diagnostic criteria

We have evaluated dyshemopoietic features in bone marrow (BM) samples obtai ned from healthy people aged over 50 without peripheral blood (PB) cytopeni a patients and compared them with MDS patients. Control group displayed BM features of dyserythropoiesis and dysgranulopoiesis in up to 15 and 27% of the considered cell elements (P-90) respectively, overlapping in part with MDS patients. Interobserver agreement in dyshemopoietic features was highes t for BM blast cell and pathological sideroblast counts. An algorithm based on BM blast cell and pathological sideroblast counts that has been verifie d on 613 patients from different Spanish centers may be of help to improve reproducibility in Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) diagnosis. (C) 1999 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.