Histological characteristic of bone marrow trephines in myelodysplastic syndromes

The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of disorders characterized by a defective haematopoiesis resulting in cytopenia, bleeding and a high rate of infection. Moreover, the syndrome carries an increased risk of the patient developing acute non-lymphoid leukaemia (ANLL). Primary and post therapy MDS are recognized; we will discuss only the primary MDS of unknown aetiology. The diagnosis of MDS is based on quantitative and qualitative changes in both peripheral blood and bone marrow.’ The French-American-British (FAB) Cooperative Group proposed arbitrary guidelines for separating overt leukaemia from relatively stable or slowly progressive conditions; later they extended the range of the myelodysplastic syndromes and defined 5 subgroups known as