Superior outcome of upfront allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation versus hypomethylating agent induction in myelodysplastic syndrome
Jan C. Schroeder, Lucas Mix, Philipp Faustmann, Jan Frederic Weller, Adrian Fehn, Laurent Phely, Andreas Riedel, Wichard Vogel, Christoph Faul, Claudia Lengerke, Wolfgang Bethge
Abstract
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are heterogeneous diseases with variable clinical outcome and an inherent risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) is the standard curative treatment [ 1 ] but the requirement for pre-transplant induction therapy remains unclear in MDS. In 2022, the new entity MDS/AML was introduced by the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) 2022 guidelines to highlight the overlapping biology irrespective of precise blast counts [ 2 ] in high-risk MDS and incipient AML and underscore the significance of genetic aberrations over morphological findings.