The association of a systemic disease (SD) and a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) may not be a coincidence. We report 14 cases.
A retrospective study was conducted in patients presenting with an MDS, hospitalised between 1989 and 1999, in the search for a concomitant systemic disease.
Ninety-seven patients, 61 men and 36 women, with a mean age of 74 +/- 11 years suffered from an MDS and 14 of them a concomitant SD: one nodular periateritis, 2 systemic vascularitis, 2 cutaneous vascularitis, 2 atrophic polychondritis, 4 Gougerot-Sjogrën syndrome, 2 systemic lupus and one cutaneous lupus. The systemic disease did not appear to influence survival.
It is possible that the association is not a coincidence and therefore an MDS should be searched for when confronted with an SD, so that treatment may be adapted appropriately.