MDS and AML with trisomy 8 as the sole chromosome aberration show different sex ratios and prognostic profiles: a study of 115 published cases.

A number of chromosome aberrations occur nonrandomly as the sole aberration in malignant and premalignant hematological disorders. They imply very different prognoses. For most of them the survival consequences have been established. For trisomy 8, which is the most frequent numerical aberration in myeloid disorders, the prognostic implications have not been investigated. In order to clarify survival in patients with trisomy 8 as the sole aberration, the literature was searched for such cases. In 115 patients survival data were available. In 103 (89.6%), a myeloid disorder had been diagnosed. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) occurred in 100 cases (87.0%). The median survival was found to be 17.1 months. On multivariate survival analysis (Cox), age above 60 and a leukemic diagnosis were found to be independent adverse prognostic indicators. MDS patients survived significantly longer (median 21 months) than AML patients (median 15 months). In MDS age and in AML the trisomy 8 clonal size was an independent prognostic factor. An unexpected observation was a clear male preponderance in trisomy 8 MDS (about two-thirds of cases). In trisomy 8 AML an approximate 1:1 ratio was found. Browsing of Mitelman's catalog confirmed these ratios.