THE RELEVANCE OF EUROPEAN LEUKEMIA NET RECOMMENDATIONS IN ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA: A ONE CENTER THREE-YEAR EXPERIENCE

Aim: The cytogenetic and molecular features of leukemia cells are chief predictors of survival in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, treatment outcomes in AML differ between low-, medium and high-income countries. We thus aimed to investigate the relevance of the European Leukemia Net (ELN) prognostic system in Romanian AML patients. Material and methods: We investigated the clinical significance of the ELN recommendations in 130 newly diagnosed AML patients treated at the Iasi Regional Oncology Institute. Results: Favorable, intermediate and adverse risk ELN classes had a similar distribution and retained their prognostic relevance (median overall survival of 18, 11 and 2 months respectively at a median follow-up duration of 18 months) when compared with literature data. However, in both the chemotherapy eligible and ineligible patients a higher prevalence of comorbid conditions and treatment related mortality could be identified. Conclusions: The management of Romanian AML patients poses significant challenges mainly due to higher incidence of comorbid conditions and infections. However, growing access to the allogeneic stem cell transplant procedure in our country will significantly improve the outcome of these patients.