Liquid Tumors in the Elderly

摘要

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) is the most common type of acute leukemia in the United States. With a median age at diagnosis of 67 years (SEER database), AML is by definition a disease of the elderly, with the majority of cases being diagnosed in the sixth and seventh decades of life. Multiple studies suggest that increasing age is a predictor of inferior outcomes in AML. Specifically, elderly patients with AML appear to have inferior rates of complete remission (CR), duration of response, treatment-related mortality and, most importantly, overall survival. There is no single specific cause of inferior outcomes in elderly AML, but rather, like most oncologic diseases, the etiology of poor outcomes is multifactorial, including clinical, psychological, metabolic, genetic, and biological factors, all of which can contribute to the failure of traditional treatment approaches successfully used in younger patients (age <60 years).