09/02/2011

Units of Cytology, Immunophenotype and cytogenetics of Hematology from Hospital Vall d'Hebron organized on February 9 the second Integrated Diagnostics Workshop Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) of clinical cases. The workshop second edition, led by Teresa Vallespí, hematologist of Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), involved 11 residents of the last year in Hematology from all around Spain. After an upgrade of the techniques used in integrated diagnostics, participants in groups of 2 or 3, developed problems supervised by experts from different units. During the conference, sponsored by Celgene, the participants studied, together with the respective experts, the different aspects of the malignant clone. For pupils it means making contact with the most advanced scanners that are used in the diagnostic study (karyotyping, flow cytometry 10 colors). After the process, they made the diagnosis by integrating all the data, implying a clear exercise of the specialty of Hematology. Furthermore, it confirmed the certainty that a correct diagnosis allows appropriate treatment and, at times, elements for further study of minimal residual disease (MRD). At the end of the day, workshop participants finished the experience with several objectives accomplished: delve into the key features in the diagnosis of MDS, analyze karyotypes with abnormalities most frequently observed in MDS, studying pictures with alterations in the expression of antigens or aberrant antigens and join all the previous clinical data, develop integrated diagnosis and classify the proposals according to FAB, IPSS (1997) and WHO (2008). The workshop, with class material, will have a third edition on May 25 due to the success of the two first experiences and the wide demand.