The National Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Study

Multi-center, prospective cohort study enrolling patients from centers in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). The accrual period is 5+ years. After central pathology review of registered participants, approximately 2,000 cases of MDS or MDS/MPN overlap disorders, and 500 cases of ICUS will be identified for the longitudinal study cohort and up to 1000 cases will be identified for the cross-sectional cohort. No more than 3500 total participants will be registered. Participants in the longitudinal cohort may be followed for life. The goal of the National MDS Study is to establish a publicly available resource to facilitate the study of MDS natural history. This will be accomplished through: 1) Creation of a multi-institutional, longitudinal collection of consistently processed and clinically well-annotated blood and tissue specimens collected prospectively from participants with MDS and participants with idiopathic cytopenia of undetermined significance (ICUS); and 2) Support for investigator-initiated studies of MDS that will have high-impact for MDS patients, including basic science, clinical, health outcomes and epidemiological research.