Acute non myeloid leukaemia in adults. Prognostic factors in 92 patients.

An analysis of prognostic factors was performed on a series of 92 adult patients with acute non-myeloid leukaemia (ANML). Four factors were shown to be correlated with a poor short-term prognosis: (1) Neuropathy involving a single cranial nerve (numbness of the chin) as a presenting feature. (2) A low percentage blast cell infiltration of bone marrow (less than 55%). (3) Cytological L2 type or L3 type of cells according to FAB classification proposals. (4) Increased age. Two factors were shown to be correlated with a poor long-term prognosis: 1) A high level of circulating blast cells; 2) A high tumour burden, as in childhood ANML. These two long-term prognostic factors were interrelated. In addition, our results suggested that myelofibrosis could be a poor long-term prognosis factor as well.