Background: Therapy related secondary acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) was commonly associated with prior exposure to alkylating agents or topoisomerase inhibitor. The long-term outcome of such patients with secondary AML was found to be worse than that of patients with de novo AML. Earlier reports suggested similar outcomes for patients with de novo and secondary AML associated with core-binding factor (CBF) abnormalities.
Methods: A total of 188 patients with CBF AML were analyzed. The frequency of secondary CBF AML was 9%.
Results: Patients with secondary CBF AML were found to have significantly worse overall (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) compared with patients with de novo CBF AML. Secondary CBF AML status appeared to have only marginal significance in multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: Matched analysis (by age, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, and additional cytogenetic abnormality) indicated worse OS and EFS in patients with secondary CBF AML.