Azacitidine results in comparable outcome in newly diagnosed AML patients with more or less than 30% bone marrow blasts

Abstract The efficacy of azacitidine has been demonstrated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with 20–30% bone marrow (BM) blasts, but limited data is available on patients with ≥30% blasts. We analyzed 55 newly diagnosed AML patients, treated with azacitidine. The overall response rate was 42%. Median overall survival (OS) was 12.3 months. We confirmed poor-risk cytogenetics, therapy-related AML, performance score ≥2, and white blood cell count ≥15 × 10 9 /L as independent adverse predictors for OS. The BM blast percentage, however, had no impact on OS ( P  = 0.55). In conclusion, administration of azacitidine is effective in AML patients with 20–30% and >30% BM blasts.