Cytogenetic abnormalities in adult non-promyelocytic acute myeloid leukemia: A concise review

Cytogenetic abnormalities are found in 50–60% of newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) of adult patients. Cytogenetic analysis of bone marrow leukemic cells is an important pre-treatment evaluation for a correct prognostic stratification of patients, that permit to separate AML patients in three broad prognostic categories: high, intermediate and low risk. The determination of cytogenetic features of AML remains a corner stone in predicting outcome although today its use needs to be integrated by molecular and immunophenotypic data, particularly in cytogenetically normal (CN) group of patients.In this review we perform a concise description of more recurrent cytogenetic aberrations found in AML, theirs correlations with biological and clinical data and theirs strong impact with outcome of patients, useful for therapeutic decision.