Background: Acute myelogenous leukemia is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults. The condition is lethal within a few months without treatment, but most young patients reach complete remission with chemotherapy. Many of them will relapse after a while, but an increasing number of young people survive for a long time.
Material and methods: Survival data were retrieved from the Norwegian Registry for Acute Leukemias and Lymphoblastic Lymphomas for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (aged from 16 to 60 years) who were registered in the period 1.1.2000-31.12.2005. The patients were divided in risk groups according to karyotype and response to initial chemotherapy. Patients with secondary acute myelogenous leukemia were classified as high-risk.
Results and interpretation: 4-year survival was 94.5% in acute promyelocytic leukemia, 77.7% in other low-risk acute myelogenous leukemia, 39.0% in standard risk patients and 29.1% in high-risk patients. For all patients totally 4-year survival was 43.0%. This is an increase of about 15% compared to previous Norwegian studies. The increase is most probably due to an intensification of chemotherapy after remission and to the implementation of all-trans-retinoic acid in the treatment of promyelocytic leukemia.