As many as 36% of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have
at least one extraintestinal manifestation (1). Hematologic manifestat
ions associated with IBD include a hypercoagulable state that leads to
thrombosis and anemia either secondary to iron, vitamin B-12, or fola
te deficiency or to hemolysis (2). Leukemia has been reported in assoc
iation with IBD (3,4), but a causal relationship remains unclear. A cl
inical association between Crohn's disease (CD) and myelodysplastic sy
ndromes (MSDs) and a potential role of immune dysfunction as a common
pathogenic factor have been suggested (3). We present such a case.