aetiology

Last reviewed 01/2018

• various risk factors have been implicated in the aetiology of MDS
  • these include age, male gender, alcohol, cigarette smoking, ionizing radiation, immunosuppressive therapy, viral infection, benzene and other environmental/occupational exposures
    • these risk factors are seen infrequently and are estimated to account for disease in only 20-30% of patients, who are often described as having secondary MDS
    • remainder of idiopathic cases constitute primary MDS
      • major subset of secondary MDS is therapy-related MDS (t-MDS) that is increasingly frequent in patients previously treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy
        • t-MDS usually presents as high-risk disease that frequently progresses to AML, and is associated with a poor prognosis regardless of therapy

Reference:

• 1. Myelodysplasic syndromes: a comprehensive review. Blood Rev. 2005 Nov;19(6):301-19