Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
AML is a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. In AML, the bone marrow makes many unformed cells called blasts. Blasts normally develop into white blood cells that fight infection. However, the blasts are abnormal in AML. They do not develop and cannot fight infections. The number of abnormal cells (or leukemia cells) grows quickly. They crowd out the normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets the body needs.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
AML is the most common type of leukemia. More than 11,900 new cases occur in the United States each year, mostly in older adults. The average age of a person with AML is 65 years. Fewer than 10% of people with AML are children. The symptoms of AML are caused by low numbers of healthy blood cells and high numbers of leukemia cells. A person with AML may feel generally unwell and run-down. He or she may also have other, less common symptoms. AML is diagnosed when blood and bone marrow samples show a large number of leukemia cells. AML has eight subtypes, labeled M0 through M7. The subtypes are based on the type of blood cells affected.
Treatment Options
AML can get worse quickly, so doctors usually begin treatment right away. To plan treatment, doctors look at a patient’s risk factors (also called prognostic factors). Risk factors are patient and disease traits that clinical studies have linked to better or worse outcomes from treatment. For a patient with AML, the treatment plan may include:
- Chemotherapy - drugs that destroy cancer cells or stop them from growing.
- A bone marrow or cord blood transplant.
- All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) if he or she has the subtype of AML known as promyelocytic leukemia.
- Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) - a type of monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins designed to attach to leukemia cells and help the immune system destroy them.