Age-Related Characteristics Impact Outcomes in AML

Rajneesh Nath, MD, a medical oncologist and the section chief of Cellular Therapy/Stem Cell Transplant & Leukemia at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses outcomes for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

According to Nath, AML is a disease of the elderly, with the median age at diagnosis being 68 years. The median age of patients at diagnosis also continues to steadily rise. Based on results of registry trials, it is known that as the patient population gets older, they tend to have poorer outcome compared to younger patients. The 1 to 2-year survival rate among these patients is10% or less.

Most patients will first receive induction chemotherapy, and those that go into complete remission will receive allogenic stem cell transplantation. According to Nath, many oncologists used to have an upper age limit as to whether they would consider a patient for transplant. However, that is no longer the case after several studies found that older patients tend to do just as well as younger patients after transplant.