Cytogenetic analysis of 52 Indian patients with de novo myelodysplastic syndromes-a comparative analysis of results with reports from Asia.

Most published data on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are derived from Western countries, which report MDS as a disease of the elderly. However, it was observed that Asian MDS patients were younger than subjects in Western reports. With this in mind, the study was conducted prospectively on 52 Indian patients to define chromosomal abnormalities and to understand ethno-geographical differences, if any, underlying the pathogenesis of MDS among this Asian population. Cytogenetic analysis was performed using GTG banding and karyotyped according to the International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN). The incidence of MDS was predominant in the age group of 41-60 years (44.23%), with a median age at diagnosis of 55 years. The disease was more frequent in males (33 patients, 63.46%) than females (19 patients, 36.53%). Of 48 patients successfully karyotyped, 17 had normal karyotype (35.4%) and 31 patients (64.5%) had a chromosomal abnormality. The most frequent chromosome abnormalities were del 5q/-5 in 13 patients (42%), -7/7q- in 10 patients (32.2%), +8 and del 20q- in 6 cases each (19.3%) and i(17)(q10) in 1 patient (3.2%). In addition to these non-random chromosomal abnormalities, some rare abnormalities were also encountered. A higher rate of transformation to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) was observed in the Chinese population compared to other Asian countries. The incidence of chromosomal abnormalities varied considerably across the different Asian populations. The overall frequency of chromosomal abnormalities in our study was comparable to most Western reports. Further prospective studies are warranted to elucidate precisely the ethnic differences in the pathogenesis of MDS in the Indian population.