Treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia.

The treatment of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) ranges from palliative care only, to standard therapy, to investigational approaches. Acute myelogenous leukemia is, in fact, several different diseases, and the percentage of clinical responses varies with disease and prognostic subsets. A high proportion of AML patients remain refractory to primary treatment or relapse later. This article aims to identify those subsets of patients who may benefit from standard treatment and those who may be candidates for investigational therapies. It describes standard therapy and reviews new agents and new modes of therapy targeted at CD33, multidrug resistance, hypermethylated (suppressor) genes, and apoptotic pathways. The evolution of new therapies for acute promyelocytic leukemia also is discussed, and the article provides a perspective on the changing role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for treatment of AML.