Volumen: 12 # Number : 3
Publication Date : Septiembre - Diciembre Year: 2008
Authors: Fernando Luiz Lopes
Abstract: Approximately ten-years ago, prospective multicenter
protocols for myelodysplastic syndromes in children
and adolescents were initiated in several countries
such as the USA, France, UK, Italy and Germany. The
Brazilian Cooperative Group in Pediatric MDS was the
first approach to treat pediatric MDS patients in Brazil.
As far as we know, this program is unique in South
America as it established a network for diagnosis,
standardized treatment and documentation. Thus, the
information derived from our experience with this effort
may be relevant to others planning clinical cooperative
studies on MDSs in countries with more limited
medical resources. With this first National MDS Brazilian
group and similar to the efforts initiated in the
1980’s by the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Brazilian
Study Group and the Wilms’ Brazilian Tumor Study ,
there was an improvement in the survival by the introduction
of a standard protocol for diagnosis and treatment.
This is a very important achievement and of particular
importance in those institutions with previous limited experience in the treatment of children with
MDS.
In Brazil, according to the Brazilian Cooperative
Group in Pediatric MDS (BCG-PED-MDS), the overall
survival rate for MDS pediatric patients without
BM transplantation is 20-25%. The BCG-PED-MDS,
created in 1997, is a working group constituted of a
range of professionals (hematologists, pediatriconcologists,
pediatric hematologists, molecular biologists
and others). Nowadays, the group is divided in
four committees (morphology, epidemiology, genetics
and therapeutics) with the aim to study the pediatric
MDS in Brazil providing an educational support, establishing
epidemiologic data and offering support
and orientation for diagnosis and treatment.
With that, we will show some results from the
Brazilian Cooperative Group in Pediatric MDS as
well the European pediatric MDS working group
(EWOG-MDS) results, the Japanese MDS pediatric
group and others.
Key words:
Pages : 76
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