Acute myeloid leukaemia

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:

• (1) Pollyea DA, Kohrt HE, Medeiros BC. Acute myeloid leukaemia in the elderly: a review. Br J Haematol. 2011 Mar;152(5):524-42
• (2) Blood Rev. 2008 Nov;22(6):311-20