ABSTRACT
Background: The incidence of acute myeloid leukemia is 3 cases per 100.000 inhabitants/year and its five years event free survival is 15 to 20 percent. Since the incorporation of trans retinoic acid, event free survival of M3 acute myeloid leukemia is 80 percent. Aim: To report the results of acute myeloid leukemia treatment at the Hospital del Salvador, between 1990 and 1998. Patients and methods: The medical records of 117 patients (66 female, mean age 48.2 years), treated between 1990 and 1998 using PANDA protocol, were retrospectively reviewed. Immunophenotyping was done in 69 patients and cytogenetic studies were done in 65. Results: Sixteen percent of patients had M3 acute myeloid leukemia. The most frequent phenotype was the association of DR, CD34 plus a panmyeloid marker. DR and CD34 were negative in seven of nine patients with M3 acute myeloid leukemia. Cariotype was abnormal in 78 percent of patients. Complete remission was achieved in 65 percent of cases with a 13 percent of failures. Early mortality was 21.3 percent and decreased to 6.1 percent in the last three years. Infections and coagulation disorders were the main causes of death. Mean survival was 10.5 months. Five years event free survival was 11 percent. In M3 acute myeloid leukemia, the figure is 50 percent. Conclusions: Treatment results are less effective than protocols that consider more aggressive chemotherapeutic protocols or bone marrow transplantation. The reduction in early mortality is due to a better management of febrile neutropenia