[Progress in the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia]

Results of treatment of AML have substantially progressed within the last decade. In almost all cases, the AML 3-year-survival rate did not exceed 1% in the 1960s. The 5-year disease-free survival rate now is ranges from 10% to 25% in adults and up to 45% in children. The 3-year survival at our hospital is 50%. Recent chemotherapy for acute leukemia is aimed at not only remission induction but also cure of the disease. Although some hematologists claim to stop chemotherapy as early as possible, there is considerable controversy regarding the total length of postremission treatment. Bone marrow transplantation is increasingly used to treat patients with acute leukemia in many facilities. Bone marrow transplantation assures a lower relapse rate than with chemotherapy alone. The limitations are the risk of transplant-related mortality, lack of a histo-compatible donor and advanced age. To achieve substantial improvement in results of AML treatment requires the development of new drugs, and the reduction of transplant-related death. An attempt to establish registries of HLA type for the transplantation from unrelated, HLA-identical donors is now under way.