Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun;169(6):859-67.
doi: 10.1111/bjh.13366. Epub 2015 Mar 29.

The applicability of the WHO classification in paediatric AML. A NOPHO-AML study

Julie D Sandahl  1 , Eigil Kjeldsen  2 , Jonas Abrahamsson  3 , Shau-Yin Ha  4 , Jesper Heldrup  5 , Kirsi Jahnukainen  6 , Ólafur G Jónsson  7 , Birgitte Lausen  8 , Josefine Palle  9 , Bernward Zeller  10 , Erik Forestier  11 , Henrik Hasle  1
Affiliations
Free article

The applicability of the WHO classification in paediatric AML. A NOPHO-AML study

Julie D Sandahl et al. Br J Haematol. 2015 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) classification of myeloid leukaemia was revised in 2008. It incorporates newly recognized entities and emphasizes the pivotal role of cytogenetic abnormalities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usability of the WHO classification when applied to a large population-based paediatric acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cohort. We included children diagnosed with de novo AML, 0-18 years of age from the Nordic countries and Hong Kong from 1993 to 2012. Data were retrieved from the Nordic Society for Paediatric Haematology and Oncology AML database and patients classified according to the WHO 2008 classification. A successful karyotype was available in 97% of the cases. AML with recurrent genetic abnormalities were present in 262 (41%) and 94 (15%) were classified as AML with myelodysplasia-related changes (AML-MDS). WHO classifies patients with monosomy 7 and del(7q) into one group. We found that -7 (n = 14) had significantly poorer outcome than del(7q) (n = 11); 5-year event-free survival 26% vs. 67%, (P = 0·02), and 5-year overall survival 51% vs. 90%, (P = 0·04). The largest group was the highly heterogeneous AML not otherwise specified (NOS) (n = 280) (44%). In conclusion, the WHO classification allocated 15% to AML-MDS, 44% to NOS and grouped together entities with clearly different outcome, therefore limiting the applicability of the current WHO classification in children with AML.

Keywords: World Health Organization; acute myeloid leukaemia; classification; leukaemia; paediatrics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types