Leukemia--Acute Myeloid (Myelogenous) Overview

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Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Staging TOPICS

Status of acute myeloid leukemia after treatment

How well leukemia responds to treatment has an effect on the long-term outlook for the patient. A remission can be complete (no signs of disease after treatment), or molecular complete (meaning that even very sensitive tests find no leukemia cells in the bone marrow).

Minimal residual disease is a term used after treatment when leukemia cells can't be found in the bone marrow using standard tests (such as looking at cells under a microscope), but more sensitive tests can still find leukemia cells in the bone marrow.

Active disease means that either the leukemia is still present during treatment or the disease has come back (relapsed) after treatment. For a patient to be in relapse, they must have more than 5% blast cells present in the bone marrow.

Last Medical Review: 06/27/2013
Last Revised: 02/07/2014