Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Children: A Review of Risk Factors and Recent Trials

Abstract

Acute leukemia is the most common malignancy seen in childhood and is comprised mainly by acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) constitutes approximately 15% of childhood leukemia. While treatment for ALL has undergone dramatic improvements in event free survival (EFS) over the past four decades, the treatment for patients with AML has resulted in modest increases in survival during this time. Even the most recent studies in the literature report that about half of the children diagnosed with AML will not survive.