[Ruth Cuadra]

Hi, Fiona.

Welcome to Marrowforums. I hope you can get a good explanation of the isochromosome 5p vs. 5q- situation from someone with more medical knowledge than I have, but I will share with you what I know:

Deletion of the long arm of chromosome (known as 5q-) or loss of a whole chromosome 5 (monosomy 5) are both abnormalities associated with MDS.

Isochromosome 5p, abbreviated as "i(5p)", which is not the same as 5q-, is a rare abnormality associated with AML (acute myloid leukemia) that arises from MDS. In an isochromosome, as you correctly noted, the missing arm is replaced by a duplicate of the remaining arm. So in i(5p) the q arm is missing but two p arms are present.

It is certainly reasonable that someone might be eligible for a bone marrow transplant at age 58. Transplants are done regularly for patients up to at least 70 years old, and possibly beyond in some centers. The availability of a matched donor is usually the key. Do you know if your FIL has one?

A second opinion is always a good idea. MDS is a difficult disease to diagnosis and no two patients have the same symptoms and responses to medication. There are treatment options other than transplant. Until you know more, I would take all of those dire predictions about life expectancy with a large grain of salt. No one person is exactly those statistics and, as you will learn at Marrowforums, people can live quite well and comfortably for many years with only minimal care.

Feel free to share your questions as they come up. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here who stand ready to help.

Regards,
Ruth Cuadra