acute myeloid leukaemia
Last reviewed 12/2021
Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a heterogeneous clonal disorder characterised by the arrest of differentiation of the progenitor cells (“blasts”) coupled with an accumulation of immature progenitors in the bone marrow, resulting in hematopoietic failure (1).
- AML is generally a disease of older adults - median age at diagnosis between 65 and 70 year of age
- after age 5-10, every year of age worsens the prognosis for patients with AML
- AML in older individuals is a more recalcitrant disease
- the disease tends to be less proliferative with average bone marrow blast counts of 20% in those older than 60 and 40% in those younger than 60. When compared with those younger than 56, those older than 56 are less likely to have favorable cytogenetics (16% vs. 5%) and more likely to have unfavorable cytogenetics (33% vs. 50%)
Reference:
epidemiology of acute myeloid leukaemia
treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia