Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia--Tertiary Care Experience

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an acquired clonal frequent malignant disorder of myeloid progenitor cells. Our aim was to study demographical and clinicopathological features of adult Pakistani AML patients at presentation.

In this single centre study extending from January 2010 to December 2014, data were retrieved from the patient records with a predetermined performa and analyzed with SPSS version 22.

Overall 125 patients were diagnosed at our institution with de novo AML during the study period. There were 76 males and 49 females (ratio 1.5:1), with an age range between 15 and 85 years and a mean age of 38.8±20.1 years. The major complaints were fever (72.8%), generalized weakness (60%), bleeding (37.6%) and dyspnea (12%). Physical examination revealed pallor in 56.8%, splenomegaly and hepatomegaly in 16% and 12.8%, respectively, and lymphodenopathy in 10.4%. The mean hemoglobin was 8.19±2.12g/dl with a mean MCV of 86.0±9.83 fl, a mean total leukocyte count of 43.1±68.5x109/l, an ANC of 3.09±6.66x109/l and a mean platelet count of 62.3±78.6x109/l.

AML in Pakistani patients is seen in a relatively very young population with male preponderance, compared with the west. However, clinico-pathological features appear comparable to published data.