Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Presenting with Isolated Thrombocytopenia: Characteristics, Outcomes, and Clinical Presentation Differences from Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP)

Introduction: Less than 5% of patients with MDS present with thrombocytopenia as an isolated abnormality (MDS-IT). There have been few systematic studies on MDS-IT and data regarding its course and prognosis are conflicting. Previous studies have defined MDS-IT based on the IPSS thresholds (Hb ≥10 g/dL; ANC ≥1.8×10 9/L; PLT <100×10 9/L). However, these were developed for prognostic, not diagnostic purposes which means that mild anemia and/or neutropenia might be present concomitantly with “isolated” thrombocytopenia. We aimed to investigate the characteristics, overall survival (OS), and leukemia-free survival (LFS) of patients with MDS-IT.