Background: The presence of FLT3 internal tandem dupulication (FLT3/ITD) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with normal karyotype was investigated in order to evaluate its clinical and prognostic significance. Methods: The FLT3/ITD was stud...
Background: The presence of FLT3 internal tandem dupulication (FLT3/ITD) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with normal karyotype was investigated in order to evaluate its clinical and prognostic significance. Methods: The FLT3/ITD was studied by PCR assay in bone marrow samples obtained from 123 patients at diagnosis. Results: Forty-seven (38.2%) demonstrated the aberrant FLT3/ITD. Patients with FLT3/ITD had significantly higher leukocyte counts at presentation than did patients without FLT3/ITD (P < 0.05). Ninety patients who received intensive induction chemotherapy were evaluated. By multivariate analysis, the FLT3/ITD mutation was an independent prognostic factor of leukemic-free survival (LFS) (P < 0.05) in AML patients with normal karyotype. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the presence of the FLT3/ITD mutation was a significant factor for poor prognosis in AML patients with normal karyotype.