Prognostic Index for Older Adult Patients with Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia: The Edouard Herriot Hospital Experience.

The treatment of older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with unsatisfactory rates of complete responses and long-term overall survival. Therefore, a clinically usefull prognostic index can facilitate therapeutic decision making and evaluation of investigational treatment strategies in this patient population. Overall, 243 of the 432 patients (56%, 95% CI: 51–60%) achieved CR (229 of them after the first induction course and 14 after salvage therapy). The median disease-free survival (DFS) and the median overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort were 8.4 months (95% CI: 7.2–10.1 months) and 8.3 months (95% CI: 7.2–10 months) respectively. A prognostic score is presented based on the multivariate analysis of 432 newly diagnosed non-M3 AML patients aged more than 60 years, selected on the base of their initial performance status and the absence of severe co-morbidity factors, for entering onto five successive clinical trials combining an anthracycline and cytarabine. Four clinically relevant parameters are included in this index: cytogenetics at diagnosis, history of previous hematologic disorder, hematologic features at diagnosis, and LDH level at diagnosis. Using this stratification system, three risk groups were defined: a favorable-risk group A (OS of 39% at 2 years and 21% at 5 years), an intermediate-risk group B (OS of 19% at 2 years and 8% at 5 years), and a poor-risk group (OS of 5% at 2 years and 0% at 5 years). The prognostic index estimates the outcome of elderly AML patients usually selected for intensive chemotherapy trials using four easily determined parameters and might identify patients who are really candidates for this treatment strategy from those for whom investigational therapy or palliation may be most appropriate.