French registry of acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. Age distribution and hemogram analysis of the 4496 cases recorded during 1982-1983 and classified according to FAB criteria. Groupe Francais de Morphologie Hematologique.

During 1982 and 1983, 4496 new cases were recorded in the French Registry of acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes by the French Group of Hematologic Morphology. This cooperative group associated members of 37 university centers spread throughout France; these centers handle the overwhelming majority of acute leukemias diagnoses. The cases were all classified according to FAB guidelines. Two thousand four hundred ninety-nine cases of acute myeloid leukemia were recorded, with similar total recruitment and distribution by cytologic subclass for both years. Hemogram data analysis revealed significant differences between different classes for certain parameters, particularly leukocytosis. A greater proportion of the acute myelogenous leukemias (AMLs) secondary to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy (n = 145) were unclassifiable according to the French-American-British (FAB) system than the de novo AMLs (n = 1954). Eight hundred twenty cases of myelodysplastic syndromes were analyzed. Their frequency was underestimated due to optional reporting during the first year and the less favorable position of the university centers for recruiting these syndromes. The characteristics of the hemograms were established for acquired idiopathic sideroblastic anemia (n = 107), refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) (n = 329), chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (n = 129) and RAEB in transformation (n = 65). Analysis of the 1177 acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALLs) recorded showed good stability from one year to the next in terms of numbers of cases and distribution in the subclasses L1, L2, and L3. The distribution among these three subclasses by age also was determined. For L1 and L2 the hemogram data were examined separately for adults and children. The study of 74 cases of type L3 ALL enabled us to detail the hematologic presentation of this rare form of leukemia.