Longitudinal, App-based Assessment of Varying Red Blood Cell Transfusion Strategies and Their Association With Patient-Reported, Clinical and Economical Outcomes in Lower-risk Myelodysplastic Neoplasms (MDS) Patients

PRO-RED is a prospective, longitudinal, and multicenter observational study. Enrolled patients will be followed for 6 months in at least monthly intervals in terms of their received red blood cell transfusions and routine myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS)-associated clinical parameters. In addition, the participating subjects will be provided with a digital/mobile application covering a smartphone app or paper-based questionnaires to answer a set of quality of life (QoL) questions once a week. During routine visits in the clinical trials center performed by the treating physician (at least every month), patients will answer standardized questionnaires for the assessment of MDS-related QoL. Also, included patients will take a photo of fingernails/eyelids with their smartphone camera with the aim to further analyze these pictures in a way to potentially deduct correlated hemoglobin (Hb)-values. As a long term aim beyond the PRO-RED study, the data will serve as a training cohort for the development of an algorithm for image-based calculation of individual Hb levels.