[Bob Macfarlane]

Myeloid Malignancies
John Howard, M.D.
Administrator, World Trade Center Health Program

February 1, 2014

Executive Summary

Beginning on February 1, 2014, the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program will consider blood or bone marrow disorders of the myeloid line to be slow-growing blood cancers. Accordingly, they will be considered WTC-related health conditions, making them available for WTC Health Program medical treatment services for eligible members. These cancers had been considered non-malignant by the Administrator because they were referred to as “pre-leukemic” hematopoietic disorders in the medical literature. Recent scientific advances, however, characterize these “pre-leukemic” myeloid neoplasms as slow-growing blood cancers, and authoritative scientific sources now consider them to be malignant myeloid neoplasms.

After receiving a request from the WTC Clinical Centers of Excellence to review certain myeloid disorders in terms of their status as malignancies,1 the WTC Health Program has determined that, in addition to types of leukemias, these myeloid malignancies are eligible for coverage by the WTC Health Program as WTC-related health conditions.2 The group of myeloid malignancies includes the following health conditions:

(1) Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDSs);
(2) Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs);
(3) Myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MDS/MPN); and
(4) Myeloid malignancies associated with eosinophilia and abnormalities of growth factor receptors derived from platelets or fibroblasts.3

Full article at:

http://www.cdc.gov/wtc/pdfs/WTCHP_PP...s_02012014.pdf