Epidemiology

The AML is a rare disease with an incidence of about three Neuerkrankungen/100.000 year. In Germany, about 3,600 new cases occur each year. It is predominantly a disease of advanced age, the median age at diagnosis is 63 years. AML accounts for approximately 80% of all acute leukemias in adults. Men are affected slightly more often than women (ratio 1,4:1). In childhood, have only 15 to 20% of patients with acute leukemia AML. However, it is rare in the neonatal acute leukemia usually an AML.

causes and origin

Known risk factors for the development of AML is an exposure to a high dose of ionizing radiation (eg, after the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and a long-term chronic exposure to benzene. Come, even after application of certain cytostatics, as can alkylating agents and etoposide, after a latent period of several years to the development of AML. An AML occurs more frequently in some genetic diseases, such as the Down's Syndrome on. Smoking also plays a role in the development of AML. In many cases the cause remains unclear.

The mechanisms that lead to the development of AML, the subject of current research. Today it is estimated that at the beginning of the development of leukemia genetic changes are in a single hematopoietic precursor cell. These changes lead to a clonal proliferation of immature cells that have lost the ability to mature. For many in the AML known chromosomal aberrations (cytogenetics are often su) genes involved, the play in normal cell regulation play an important role. By translocations arise partly new fusion genes that are involved in the development of leukemia, such as PML / RAR? in t (15; 17), AML1/ETO in t (8; 21).