Accurate assessment of the prognosis of the patient is important for overall management and treatment of AML. Patients can be stratified according to their risk of treatment resistance or treatment-related mortality. This will help guide the type and intensity of treatment.
Important prognostic factors are:
The WHO subtype
- Certain cytogentic subtypes have a much better prognosis than others (see subsequent pages).
Clinical Factors
- Age at diagnosis. Increased age is associated with a poorer prognosis, although this is also dependent on the WHO subtype.
- Prior hematological malignancies. If the patient had a prior hematological malignancy, this carries a substantially poorer prognosis.
Other Variables (These variables can be especially important in older patients.)
- Platelet count
- Serum creatinine
- Albumin
