Utility of blasts with a clear halo around the nucleolus as a predictive indicator for disease progression in patients with myelodysplastic syndromesand aplastic anemia

This study was designed to evaluate the utility of blasts with a clear halo around their nucleoli (BCHN) as a predictive indicator of disease progress ion in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) and aplastic anemia (AA). Bone marr ow aspirates from 75 patients with MDSs and 18 with AA were fixed in 95% et hanol solution or 10% neutral formalin and stained with the Papanicolaou me thod. BCHNs were detected in 57 of 75 patients with MDSs and in 10 of 18 AA patients Disease progression was restrictedly observed in 17 patients with MDSs who had BCHNs at onset and in I patient with AA. The proportion of BC HNs increased with disease progression in these 16 of 17 patients with MDSs . The presence of BCHNs at onset and the increase in proportion of BCHNs du ring the clinical course of MDSs were significant indications Sor predictin g disease progression. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2000;22:275-280. (C) 2000 Wiley-L iss, Inc.