Acute Myeloid Leukemia Challenges - annual Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) CONFERENCE 2020
TREATING ACUTE MYELOID leukemia (AML) in patients who are 65 years of age or older remains a challenge because of a relatively poor survival rate; after receiving a diagnosis of AML, nearly 80% of the patients in this age cohort will die within a year with a median survival of 2.67 months. Treatment has also been limited as some patients are too frail to undergo intensive induction therapy. But promising targeted remedies and an increased understanding of the molecular and cytogenetic characteristics of AML may improve the quality of life (QOL) for these patients and also lengthen their survival. This sea change in the treatment of AML has come in the past 3 to 4 years after 3 decades of stagnation in therapeutic advances, said Laura Michaelis, MD, Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin and its affiliate Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She discussed the latest advancements in managing the disease during the eighth annual Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) meeting.