Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia benefit from intensive chemotherapy: an update from the Swedish Acute Leukemia Registry.

Most patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are older, the median age is 71 years, and survival decreases rapidly with age. The achievement of complete remission and long-term survival mostly require intensive combination chemotherapy, but standard regimens are often believed to be too toxic for older patients. The Swedish Acute Leukemia Registry is unique and contains data on 98% of all patients diagnosed since 1997, irrespective of management. Comorbidity increases with age, but the distribution of AML-related risk factors is mostly similar in different age groups of patients older than 60 years old. In Sweden, most patients up to 75 years old are given intensive induction treatment with acceptable complete remission rates. Early death rates were always lower with intensive treatment compared with palliative treatment, thus, most patients up to 75 years and with AML both tolerate and benefit from intensive induction treatment.