Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (excluding Down syndrome) remains an acute myeloid subgroup with inferior outcome in the French ELAM02 trial.

We report the outcome of 27 children with de novo acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) (excluding Down syndrome) enrolled in the French multicenter prospective study ELAM02 (2005-2011). There was no difference in gender, initial leukocyte count, CNS involvement, and complete remission rate (88.9%), as compared to other acute myeloid leukemia (AML) subtypes. AMKL patients had a significantly poorer outcome (5-year overall survival 54% [CI 95% 33%-71%] than children with other AML subtypes (5-year overall survival 73% [CI 95% 68%-77%] p = 0.02). Gender, age, CNS leukemia, hyperleukocytosis, complete remission or cytogenetic subgroups were not significant prognostic factors of disease-free survival. AMKL (excluding Down syndrom) remains an AML subgroup with inferior outcome.