Deletion 5q is frequent in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients diagnosed with interstitial lung diseases (ILD): Mayo Clinic experience

- ILD is seen more frequent than anticipated in MDS.
- Deletion 5q was frequent in MDS patients with ILD.
- No evidence of increased autoimmunity was seen in MDS patients with ILD.

A variety of interstitial Lung Diseases (ILD) have been described in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with possible etiologies including autoimmunity, drug related toxicity, and recurrent infections. A comprehensive study of ILD in MDS patients has not been previously performed. Out of 827 consecutive biopsy proven MDS patients seen at our institution from June 1970-May 2010, 18 (2%) were found to have ILD. There was no statistical significance in baseline characteristics between patients with ILD (ILD +) vs those without ILD (ILD−). Cytogenetic studies were reported in 14 ILD + patients out of whom 43% had 5q- abnormalities (21% isolated and 22% part of complex karyotype). Prevalence of high risk MDS was similar between both groups (22% vs 29% in ILD−) with similar overall survival. ILD was diagnosed prior to MDS in the majority of cases (72%) with a median time to MDS diagnosis of 22.3 months. Our study suggests that ILD are present in a higher percentage than anticipated in the MDS population. Deletion 5q was frequent in ILD+ cases and this requires further study. Prior MDS treatment and autoimmunity seemed to play no significant role in ILD development.