Prognostic factors for therapy-related acute myeloid leukaemia (t-AML) – A single centre experience

Prognostic parameters for treatment outcome in 42 consecutive patients with t-AML diagnosed and treated in a single centre between 2000–2010 (mean age: 56.07 years, range: 23–84; 30 females) were evaluated retrospectively/prospectively. Antecedent malignancy occurred in 37 patients (88.15%): 28 solid cancers (breast, n = 14), nine haematological. History of previous chemotherapy (CT), radiotherapy (RT) alone and combined CT/RT was present in 42.9%, 6.19% and 30.1% patients, respectively. Primary disease was active in 11 patients (six relapsed or metastatic cancers; five autoimmune diseases). Myelodysplastic syndrome preceded t-AML in 29% of patients. Median latency period from prior CT/RT was 54.62 months (range: 6–243). Median WBC count was 27.23 × 109/L, platelet count 62.29 × 109/L, haemoglobin level 87.83 g/L, peripheral blood and bone marrow blast percentage 30.7% and 66.7% respectively, serum LDH 1216 U/L. Aberrant expression of B or T lymphoid markers was registered in seven out of 39 and six out of 39 patients, respectively. Aberrant karyotype was detected in 24 out of 33 (72.7%) of eligible patients: favourable: 15.2%, intermediate: 42.4% and unfavourable: 42.4%. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status greater or equal to 2 and Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation Specific Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI) greater or equal to 3 exhibited 83.3% and 76.2% patients, respectively. Intensive induction CT for t-AML was administered in 24 patients. The median follow-up and the median overall survival (OS) for the whole cohort were 2 months and 5.94 months (range: 0.5–34), respectively. In 10 patients (23.8%) achieving complete remission (CR), median disease free survival (DFS) was 11.8 months (range: 4–32). Only CD19 expression, pretreatment karyotype, ECOG PS, HCT-CI and activity of primary disease had impact on OS (P < 0.05).