5. Balanced and Unbalanced Chromosomal Translocatios in Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Clinical and Prognostic Signficance.

Prognostic role of chromosomal translocations (CT) in myelodysplasia (MDS) was retrospectively analyzed in 77 patients from GROM-L registry. Forty (51.9%) balanced, 28 (36.4%) unbalanced and 9 (11.7%) concomitant balanced and unbalanced CT were identified. Five-year overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort was 34.5% (CI 95% 22.546.5). Five-year OS of patients with unbalanced CT was significantly shorter than that of patients carrying balanced CT [22.3% (CI 95% 4.040.6) vs 44.0% (CI 95% 26.761.3) (p¼0.042)]. Five-year OS of patients with CT included in complex karyotype (CK) was significantly shorter than that of patients with isolated CT or CT with another abnormality [5.5% (CI 95% 015.7) vs 42.9% (CI 95% 21.364.5) and vs 4% (CI 95% 31.679.2) (p<0.001)]. Presence of CT in MDS characterizes a more aggressive outcome only when associated with CK