Screening and Genetic Monitoring of Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Under Different Treatment Modalities by Cytogenetic Analyses of Circulating CD34+Cells

In myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) the knowledge about chromosomal aberrations is important for diagnosis, pathogenesis, prognosis and treatment. Usually, chromosomal anomalies in MDS patients are detected in bone marrow cells by chromosome banding analyses of metaphases. Alternatively or additionally they can be diagnosed by Fluorescence-in-Situ-Hybridization (FISH). The investigators here present a novel method for cytogenetic monitoring of MDS patients from peripheral blood which is representative for the clone size in bone marrow cells. The purpose of this prospective multicenter non-interventional diagnostic study is to detect and to follow chromosomal aberrations from peripheral blood closely, to assess karyotype evolution, to detect rare abnormalities and to correlate the molecular-cytogenetic results with peripheral blood counts, bone marrow morphology and treatment modalities and responses.