Home Away from Home: Pediatric AML Outcomes
Mentor: Dr. Richard Aplenc
Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most life-threatening form of leukemia in children and necessitates intensive chemotherapy for treatment. The treatment courses cause periods of severe neutropenia lasting three or more weeks. During this period, the patient is at great risk for dangerous bloodstream infections, which can delay the start of the next course of chemotherapy and even result in significant morbidity and mortality. There is little clinical evidence for whether infection risk is minimized for patients managed in the hospital or at home during this period. While the treatment outcomes of pediatric AML have improved significantly, about one-third of patients experience relapse. Overall survival following relapse is only about 35%. There is great variability in treatment of relapsed disease and limited information on the prevalence and relative effectiveness of the salvage approaches being utilized. Over the summer, I will provide support to two projects. The first focuses on comparing outcomes between patients who remain in the hospital during neutropenia and those who are discharged home. The second focuses on describing the common treatments used to treat relapsed disease and their relative effectiveness.
