Mean Platelet Volume and Its Relation to Risk Stratification of Myelodysplastic Syndromes

The diagnosis of MDS is an effort that requires clinicians and pathologists to work together. A patient's life, livelihood and outlook can be profoundly affected by the terms used by the treating physician. The typical presentation is unexplained anemia, leukopenia and/or thrombocytopenia, in an older patients (median age ≥ 70 years). However, thrombocytosis may be associated with the 5q-deletion syndrome or in selected patients with refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts syndrome . The white count may be elevated in MDS / myeloproliferative disorder overlap syndromes particularly in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, CMML.

MDS remains among the most challenging of the myeloid neoplasms to diagnose and classify, particularly in cases in which the blast percentage is not increased in the peripheral blood or bone marrow. Diagnostic problems can arise when the clinical and laboratory findings suggest MDS, but the morphologic findings are inconclusive; when there is secondary dysplasia caused by nutritional deficiencies, medications, toxins, growth factor therapy, inflammation or infection; or when marrow hypocellularity or myelofibrosis obscures the underlying disease process .

The prognosis of MDS is determined by several factors. Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R) for MDS divides patients into very low, low, intermediate, high and very high risk groups. Five factors (the percentage of bone marrow myeloblasts, the diagnostic cytogenetics, the hemoglobin level, the platelet count and the absolute neutrophilic count) are used to generate a prognostic score .