Acute Myelogenous Leukemia

Acute Myelogenous Leukemia
EPIDEMIOLOGY:
AML accounts for 11% of the cases of childhood leukemia. The relative frequency of AML increases in adolescence, representing 36% of cases of leukemia in 15-19 yr olds.
One subtype, acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), is more common in certain regions of the world .
Anumber of risk factors have been identified, including ionizing radiation, chemotherapeutic agents (e.g., alkylating agents, epipodophyllotoxin), organic solvents, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, and certain syndromes: Down syndrome, Fanconi anemia, Bloom syndrome, Kostmann syndrome, Shwachman-Diamond syndrome, Diamond-Blackfan syndrome, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, and neurofibromatosis type 1.
CELLULAR CLASSIFICATION:
The characteristic feature of AML is that >20% of bone marrow cells on bone marrow aspiration or biopsy touch preparations constitute a fairly homogeneous population of blast cells, with features similar to those that characterize early differentiation states of the myeloidmonocyte- megakaryocyte series of blood cells.
The WHO has proposed a new classification system that incorporates morphology,chromosome abnormalities, and specific gene mutations. This system provides significant biologic and prognostic information .