About Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) is the most common adult acute form of leukemia, affecting approximately 10,500 people a year in the United States. The incidence of AML rises dramatically in people over 55 years of age (median age of onset is 64 years). AML is also more common in white males than in any other population group.
AML is a malignancy (or cancer) of blood-forming tissues of the bone marrow, characterized by an increase in immature white blood cells. Normally, the bone marrow makes cells called "blasts" that mature into several different types of blood cells. AML prevents the blasts from properly developing. Found in the blood and bone marrow, these mutated, leukemic blast cells multiply rapidly and crowd out normal blood cells. People with AML become increasingly susceptible to bleeding and infection as the normal blood cells decrease in number and lose their ability to effectively defend the body against microorganisms. The onset of AML is usually quite sudden.
