The use of this procedure should be anticipatory and occur before the development of an excess of progenitor cells populate the bone marrow in cases of myelodyspasia as well as before the development of acute myeloid leukemia. Accordingly, individuals should be routinely monitored by bone marrow examinations and complete blood counts. Furthermore, the relatives of patients afflicted with the syndrome or any of other manifestations of GATA2 deficiency should be tested for GATA2 mutations. Individuals with such mutations are not candidates for donating their stem cells of Emberger syndrome patients. Reversion of the bone marrow to full immune restitution with improved expression of GATA2 can take up to several years after transplantation. Prognosis
Prognosis of the Emberger syndrome depends heavily on the speed of its progression to bone marrow failure, myelodysplasia with excessive blast cells, or acute myeloid leukemia. Intervention with non-myeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation before development of the latter two disorders is thought to improve survival indefinitely in most cases. While not yet tested, this transplantation intervention would seem to offer a similar benefit in cases of severe, potentially lethal bone marrow failure. History
The Emberger syndrome was first described by J.M. Emberger in 1979 as an unusual and not previously described constellation of symptoms (sensorineural hearing loss, lower limb lymphedema, and hematological disorders) in 4 individuals from two generations of a single family.
familial MDS/AML); 3) chronic myelomonocytic leukemia; 4) pediatric myelodysplastic syndrome; and 5) various other hematological abnormalities such as aplastic anemia, anemia, chronic neutropenia; and/or various immunological defects. Individuals with the Emberger syndrome may exhibit signs or symptoms that are more characteristic of the latter manifestations. Since most individuals with inactivating GATA2 mutations progress to a leukemic disorder, the Emberger syndrome is a Precancerous condition.The age of onset and types of symptoms that occur in individuals afflicted with the Emberger syndrome are highly variable even in family members presumed to have identical GATA2 gene mutations. This variability as well as the variability in the different manifestations of GATA2-inactivating mutations are not fully understood. They likely relate, at least in part, to: individual differences in the: 1) levels of the GATA2 transcription factor which are expressed; 2) genetic backgrounds; 3) occurrence of illnesses or other events that stress the bone marrow; and, possibly, 4) development of other "secondary" genetic abnormalities that often develop during the course of these disorders. Because of these many complexities, recent reports have grouped together all of the different manifestations of GATA2 inactivating mutations into a single pleotropic genetic disorder termed GATA2 deficiency, GATA2 haploinsufficiency, or the GATA2 deficiency syndrome. Even currently, however, the Emberger syndrome (e.g. its MIM entry is #614038) and MonoMac/DCML (e.g. its MIM entry is #614172) are often classified as distinct clinical disorders. The Emberger syndrome is here considered as a distinct disorder.