Undetectable peripheral blood CFU-GM as a prognostic indicator in myelodysplastic syndrome.

The survival of MDS patients without detectable circulating CFU-GM (median = 188 days) was significantly lower than those in whose peripheral blood CFU-GM were detected (median greater than 1000 days) (p less than 0.01). About half of those with detectable PB-CFU-GM died within 2 yr whilst the remainder survived more than ca 3 yr. There was no significant difference in the distribution of patients having 0-5% and greater than 5% marrow blast cells within the three groups.