Treatment outcome of myelodysplastic syndrome patients younger than 60 years old

: We evaluated the clinical outcome of 92 patients younger than 60 years who were treated between January 1987 and May 2003. Low, Int-1, Int-2 and High risk groups categorized by IPSS consisted of 7, 34, 24 and 27 patients, respectively. There was no significant difference in the overall survival between 30 patients who received allogeneic stem cell transplantation and 62 patients who did not. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation provided significantly better outcomes in the Int-2 and the High risk groups. Risk factors for overall survival were age and disease status at transplantation. Acute and chronic GVHD did not influence the relapse free survival rate. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is a curative therapy for MDS. It is necessary to reduce transplantation related death and to perform stem cell transplantation as soon as possible for patients with Int-2 or High risk of IPSS.