Day 14 bone marrow examination in the management of acute myeloid leukemia

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends that a repeat bone marrow evaluation is carried out seven to ten days following completion of induction therapy so that if a patient's day 14 bone marrow shows residual blast cell counts of >10%, the patient would proceed early to a second cycle of induction therapy. Although blast cell counts of <5% on day 14 bone marrow is sensitive in predicting remission on day 28, various studies have found that day 14 bone marrow is highly nonspecific because a large proportion of patients with blast cell counts of >5% on day 14 bone marrow would still attain a complete remission of the disease without any further chemotherapy. Clinical decision based on day 14 bone marrow will result in some of these patients being given a second induction therapy unnecessarily. A second cycle of chemotherapy is associated with not only higher risk for treatment-related mortality but also increased use of hospital resources such as increased intravenous antimicrobials use, longer hospital stay, and higher demand for blood products. In this article, we examined the utility, discussed the shortfalls, and re-appraised the values of day 14 bone marrow in the management of patients with AML. On the basis of our review, we suggest that the practice of day 14 bone marrow examination should be re-evaluated and should probably only be carried out in the setting of clinical trials with clear questions to address its role in predicting outcome of the therapeutic intervention.