title: Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
abstract: Outcomes for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia have not improved over the last three decades, with only a small proportion of patients achieving long-term disease-free survival with standard induction chemotherapy. Older patients are more likely to have comorbidities, diminished functional reserve and other age-related issues, which decrease their tolerability to chemotherapy. Furthermore, the disease is frequently associated with poor-risk features, such as unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities, antecedent hematologic disorders and expression of the multidrug resistant P-glycoprotein, which are associated with chemoresistant disease. Therefore, is it not only important to develop newer treatment modalities, but also to develop and validate prognostic models to help select the patients who are likely to benefit from and be suitable for intensive therapy, and reproducibly risk-stratify (based on disease biology) a relatively uniform group of older patients onto trials, so that the clinical significance of new therapeutic agents can be evaluated.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology, University Health Network-Princess Margaret Hospital, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. karen.yee@uhn.on.ca
authors.forename: Karen W L
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Yee
authors.forename: Armand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keating
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000075202:Contraindications; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents