A 5-Year- study on Children with Acute Myelocytic Leukemia/AML, Ahvaz Shafa Hospital (1996-2001)

Introduction: AML is the second most common leukemia in children after ALL. The rate of AML in 14-year-old children is reported to be 6.6 cases per million. This study reviews 40 children with AML within 5 years. These patients have been evaluated for clinical findings and overall survival.

Materials & Methods: All Patients with AML have been evaluated from 1996 to 2000 for clinical findings, age, gender, lab data, AML subtypes, geographic distribution, treatment results and overall survival. Myeloblast, over 30 percent, was compatible with AML. FAB classification was applied for AML subtypes. BM flocytometry and special staining were applied, if necessary. CBC test was performed through sysmex counter.

Results: In this study, 40 cases were diagnosed to have AML during 5 years, 60% of patients were male & 40% female, among whom 17.5% were less than one year old. Age distribution was between 2 to 15 years old, and the most common clinical findings were bleeding, weakness, respiratory symptoms and pallor. More than 90 percent of patients suffered from anemia and thrombocytopenia.  M3 was the most common subtype.

Conclusion: In this survey, overall survival was less than 35 percent, which proves that chemotherapy without BMT is an incomplete therapy; there was also no significant difference between sexes, but 17.5% of patients were less than one year old and 22.5% of them reported by parents to have anemia.