Introduction

MDS is a blood cancer with ineffective hematopoiesis and it will often present with symptoms of cytopenias, such as fatigue. 90% of MDS are denovo and 10% are related to either an underlying bone marrow disorder or previous cancer treatment. So chemotherapy or radiation, definitely. What things are important to rule out and diagnose MDS? Some of the high testable features are nutritional deficiencies so make sure you check for B12 folate and iron. They especially like to trick you with copper deficiency because when you do a bone marrow biopsy you can often actually see dysplasia on the bone marrow.