CYTOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF DE-NOVO ACUTE MYELOID-LEUKEMIA WITH TRILINEAGE MYELODYSPLASIA IN COMPARISON WITH MYELODYSPLASTIC SYNDROME EVOLVING TO ACUTE MYELOID-LEUKEMIA

Characteristics of karyotypes were analyzed in de novo acute myeloid l eukemia (AML) with trilineage myelodysplasia (AML/TMDS) at initial dia gnosis and compared with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) cases that had evolved to AML (MDS/AML). Abnormal karyotypes were seen in 11 of 19 p atients with AML/TMDS and 13 of 16 MDS/AML cases. Trisomy 8 was observ ed in 3 AML/TMDS cases as a sole anomaly and was also present in 3 MDS /AML cases but not as a sole finding. Although MDS/AML frequently disp layed monosomies or long-arm deletions of chromosome 5, 7 and 9, only one case exhibited long-arm deletion (of chromosome 7) in AML/TMDS. Tw o or more chromosome aberrations were found in some cases in both grou ps. These findings suggest that AML/TMDS had passed through several pr eleukemic stages at diagnosis, as has been well documented in MDS and MDS/AML. Additionally, clonal evolution may have already occurred in A ML/TMDS, as MDS transformed to AML is associated with clonal evolution .