Background: During the last four decades the prognosis of childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been substantially improved due to an increase in complete remission (CR) rates, event-free survival (EFS) and reduced early mortality. The relapsed AML still remains a therapeutic challenge.
Aim: To report the AML treatment results of the Bulgarian pediatric oncohematological centers.
Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of the treatment results of children and adolescents (age from 0 to 20 years) with primary AML. Unified AML BFM- backbone type treatment protocol is used.
Results: This study included 97 newly diagnosed patients (44 girls and 53 boys) with AML in Bulgaria between 2003 and 2016. The median age at diagnosis was 10.2 years. The most frequent FAB-morphologic subtype was M2 followed by M4. First complete remission (CR1) was achieved in 83 patients (85.6%). The 13-year EFS was 49%, while the overall survival (OS) was 54.6%. Twenty seven (27.8%) patients relapsed, with only 5 of them being still alive towards the end of the study period.
Conclusion: The EFS and OS for the children with AML in Bulgaria are comparable with those reported by other European groups. The prognosis of relapsed AML remains still unfavorable for the past 13 years.
Keywords: acute myeloid leukemia; children; relapse.