Secondary myelodysplastic syndrome in multiple myeloma--a study of nine patients with an attempt to detect myeloma patients at risk.

Over a follow-up period of ten years, nine of our 100 patients with multiple myeloma (MM), developed myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS, preleukaemia). MDS occurred 19-156 (median 35) months from the diagnosis of MM. Six patients presented with pancytopenia and no patients had active MM at the time of MDS diagnosis. Three patients were defined as having refractory anaemia (RA) and six as refractory anaemia with excess blasts (RAEB) or RAEB in transformation (RAEBT), according to the FAB classification. The clinical course is characterized by increasing red blood cell and platelet transfusion requirements, recurrent infections and bleeding episodes. All patients, except for one, died within 3 to 8 (median 5) months from MDS diagnosis. The causes of death were sepsis or bleeding; three patients underwent leukaemic transformation. Thus, the clinical course of this small group of myeloma patients who developed secondary MDS (sMDS), was similar to other series of patients with sMDS. Serial bone marrow examinations suggest an initial hypercellular phase, followed by a rapidly evolving preterminal hypocellular marrow. In an attempt to detect MM patients at risk of developing sMDS, the epidemiological (including ethnic), clinical and laboratory data of the 9 MDS patients at the time of the MM presentation were reviewed and compared to the other MM patients. No significant differences were observed between the two groups in most parameters, except for two. All MDS patients were Ashkenazi Jews and no patients of Sepharadic origin developed MDS. Also, no IgA-myeloma patient developed MDS. If these findings are confirmed in a larger series, it may point to subgroups at risk which may require a different approach.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)