Cytogenetic findings in the dysmyelopoietic syndrome.

Cytogenetic studies of bone marrow specimens from 15 patients with dysmyelopoietic syndrome are presented. The group consists of nine patients with refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB), three patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMMoL), and three patients with acquired idiopathic sideroblastic anemia (AISA). None of these patients had a prior history of therapeutic or occupational exposure to potential carcinogenic agents, G(TG)-banding revealed clonal abnormalities in nine of the 15 patients. Five of these patients exhibited one or more of the following cytogenetic abnormalities: 5q deletion, -7, +8, or +21. The AISA group appeared to be unique as chromosome abnormalities were seen in two of the three patients and the clinical course in these patients had been prolonged without progression to acute leukemia. No other clinical correlation could be made in the blast RAEB and CMMoL groups, except for possible survival benefit in patients with normal karyotypes.