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Blood, 16 April 2009, Vol. 113, No. 16, pp. 3666-3672. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on November 19, 2008; DOI 10.1182/blood-2008-09-179341. This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: blood-2008-09-179341v1 113/16/3666    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Rights and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Derolf, A. R. Articles by Bjorkholm, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Derolf, A. R. Articles by Bjorkholm, M. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?  Previous Article  |  Next Article  Submitted September 19, 2008 Accepted November 8, 2008 Improved patient survival for acute myeloid leukemia: A population-based study of 9,729 patients diagnosed in Sweden 1973-2005 Asa Rangert Derolf*, Sigurdur Yngvi Kristinsson, Therese M-L Andersson, Ola Landgren, Paul W Dickman, and Magnus Bjorkholm Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Genetic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States * Corresponding author; email: asa.derolf{at}karolinska.se. We evaluated survival patterns for all registered acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients diagnosed in Sweden 1973-2005 (n=9,729; median age 69 years). Patients were categorized into six age groups and four calendar periods (1973-1980, 1981-1988, 1989-1996, and 1997-2005). Relative survival ratios (RSRs) were computed as measures of patient survival. One-year survival improved over time in all age groups while five- and ten-year survival improved in all age groups except for patients 80+ years. The five-year RSRs in the last calendar period were 0.65, 0.58, 0.36, 0.15, 0.05, and 0.01 for the age groups 0-18, 19-40, 41-60, 61-70, 71-80, and 80+ years, respectively. Intensified chemotherapy, a continuous improvement in supportive care, and allogeneic stem cell transplantation are probably the most important factors contributing to this finding. In contrast, there was no improvement in survival in AML patients with a prior diagnosis of a myelodysplastic syndrome during 1993-2005 (n=219). In conclusion, AML survival has improved during the last decades. However, the majority of AML patients die from their disease and age remains an important predictor of prognosis. New effective agents with a more favorable toxicity profile are needed to improve survival, particularly in the elderly. CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this? This article has been cited by other articles: M. PRENKERT, B. UGGLA, E. TINA, U. TIDEFELT, and H. STRID Rapid Induction of P-Glycoprotein mRNA and Protein Expression by Cytarabine in HL-60 Cells Anticancer Res, October 1, 2009; 29(10): 4071 - 4076. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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