1/🧵 Diagnosing Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) – What You Should Know

MDS is complex. Diagnosis should never rely on a single feature. Here’s a practical guide for haematologists, trainees and lab scientists.👇 2/ A diagnosis of MDS requires integration of:

— Morphology
— Flow cytometry
— Genetics
— Clinical context

No single test is enough.

1/ What are PF4 Abs?

Abs against Platelet Factor 4 (PF4) can trigger immune responses, leading to dangerous clotting disorders. They play a central role in conditions like Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia (HIT) & Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT). A short 🧵... 2/ Types of PF4 Abs

PF4 Abs can be classified into three types:
🟢Type 1: Non-pathogenic (no platelet activation)
🟠Type 2: Heparin-dependent, platelet-activating (HIT)
🔴Type 3: Heparin-independent, platelet-activating (autoimmune HIT, VITT)

Ref: 👇 bit.ly/4hweqDU

1/ Do you know the common causes of fungal infections in patients with haematological malignancies?  A thread🧵 2/ Fungi can be Yeasts or Molds. Yeasts are microscopic fungi that consist of solitary cells that reproduce by budding. Molds occur in long filaments known as hyphae, which grow by apical extension.

1/ Vitamin B12 is one of the essentials of life, but did you know these essential facts? A 🧵 2/ Karl August Folkers, an 🇺🇸 chemist and his team, is credited with discovering B12. The story of the anti-pernicious-anaemia factor started in 1938 and ended in 1948 with the isolation of a red crystalline compound now called B12.

1/ Did you get you right? A short 🧵on leucocytosis and leukostasis 2/ You can't solely rely on morphology for a diagnosis, but there is a good chance you are dealing with some sort of high-grade haematological malignancy. Monoblastic leukaemia topped the differentials and was the final diagnosis.

1/ Do you know who this man is? 🧵

He’s Fredrick W Mott, an English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿surgeon who identified cells with multiple spherical inclusions packed in their cytoplasm in the brains of monkeys with trypanosomiasis. 2/ In the early 1900s, he identified them as plasma cells in inflammation and called them morular cells (Latin morus=mulberry). He was later given the honour of having these cells named after him.

Image credit: doi.org/10.1002/jha2.5…