Pretreatment marrow cytogenetic status: A predictor of response to remission induction therapy in acute myelogenous leukemia

Seventy-nine of 161 previously untreated patients with acute myelogenous leukemia had cytogenetic studies performed on their bone marrow aspirates before remission induction treatment was begun. All patients received an identical induction regimen of cytosine arabinoside and daunorubicin. Patients whose pretreatment bone marrow cytogenetic studies were completely normal had a significantly higher complete remission rate and a lower rate of refractory leukemia than did patients whose pretreatment marrow yielded abnormal results. The clinical characteristics of the patients who had marrow cytogenetic studies were similar to those not so studied. Similarly, the clinical characteristics of the patients with normal and abnormal cytogenetic status did not differ. These data indicate that pretreatment marrow cytogenetic status is an important variable in predicting outcome of remission induction therapy in acute myelogenous leukemia.