Characteristics of long-term survivors in AML

We examined the records of all patients with a diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia or acute myelo-monocytic leukemia seen between 1963--1975. Of 211 patients, 12 are alive and in complete remission from 179--48 months since diagnosis. Life table analysis reveals a survival plateau of 4--5% after five years. Three of the survivors have suffered relapses but still survive without evidence of disease. The clinical and laboratory characteristics of all the survivors are presented. The survivors have a significantly younger age at diagnosis than the nonsurvivors (P less than 0.005). However, no other factors could be identified as characteristic of the survivors' group.