Unlike chronic neoplastic disorders, symptoms of AML may be present for only a few days or weeks before the patient is diagnosed. Although they can vary, the most common presenting symptoms of AML are those caused by crowding out of normal hematopoietic lines such as:
- Anemia
- Thrombocytopenia
- Granulocytopenia
Typical symptoms associated with anemia are fatigue, pallor, dyspnea, and others. Thrombocytopenia manifests as mucosal bleeding, easy bruising, and heavy periods. Occasionally, patients can have more serious effects such as spontaneous hemorrhage. Granulocytopenia leads to a greater risk of infections, recurrent infections, and fevers.
Much less common is leukemia cutis, which is the infiltration of the epidermis, dermis, or subcutis by leukemic cells. This condition causes nodules or papules on the skin. Leukemic cell infiltration of other organs is also possible but less common or severe than in ALL; however, the liver, spleen, lymph nodes, joints and meninges can occasionally be affected.
