Most common acute leukaemia in adults

Associated with Aeur rods

Management

Tx - treated with chemotherapy regimes or bone marrow transplant

• Treatment with curative intent for the majority of adults below 60
• CR is achieved in 80% of patients under 60, failure is due to resistant leukemia (10%) or treatment related mortality (10%) - infection or haemorrhage
• In the M3 variant of AML - treat with vitamin A

older patients (>60)

• decision needs to be taken as to whether patient is fit enough to tolerate intensiive chemotherapy
• treatment related morbidity and mortality are higher
• Reduced-intensity allogeneic transplantation is increasingly being used for this group but is still limited by its toxicity

Prognosis - With regards to prognosis, death occurs within 2 months without treatment; however, it is still poor in those who undergo treatment, with a 20% 3-year survival rate.