Fang M, Storer B, Estey E et al.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
Blood 2011;118:1490–4.
Editor’s note: Patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and a monosomal karyotype (MK; at least two distinct autosomal monosomies or a single autosomal monosomy in the presence of another cytogenetic structural abnormality) have a particularly poor prognosis. A Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) study found that <4% of patients with MK were alive at 4 years after diagnosis (Blood 2010;116:2224–8). The only two patients with MK who were alive and disease-free at 6 years in this series had received an allogeneic transplant while in first complete remission (CR1). In an attempt to assess the impact of allogenic transplant in AML patients with MK, investigators from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle, WA, USA) reviewed their experience with transplant in this patient demographic.