Cancer & inherited bone marrow failure states

Abstract

In this issue of Blood, Alter and colleagues report on the spectrum of cancers occurring in 500 patients withDCas reported in the medical literature from 1910 to 2008 and in a prospective cohort of 50 DCpatients followed at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The study finds in both cohorts a cumulative incidence of cancer approximating 40% to 50%, as well as a shortened overall survival and a poor outcome after HSCT. Squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck were the most frequently noted cancers in both study populations followed by skin, anorectal, and other cancers.