When should I consider referring a patient with suspected MDS to a haematologist?

While the provided guidelines do not specify unique referral criteria for suspected myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), they state that any patient with suspected haematological cancer should be referred to an appropriate haemato-oncology multidisciplinary team (MDT) ². This referral should be made by clinicians who are not members of these MDTs ².

For adults presenting with symptoms that could indicate a bone marrow disorder, such as MDS, a very urgent full blood count (within 48 hours) should be considered to assess for leukaemia, which shares some overlapping symptoms ¹. These symptoms include pallor, persistent fatigue, unexplained fever, unexplained persistent or recurrent infection, unexplained bruising, unexplained bleeding, unexplained petechiae, or hepatosplenomegaly ¹.