Subtypes of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) starts in 1 of the following blasts (immature bone marrow cells):

myeloblasts – cells that become granulocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils)
monoblasts – cells that become monocytes and macrophages
erythroblasts – cells that become red blood cells
megakaryoblasts – cells that become megakaryocytes (cells that make platelets)

The French-American-British (FAB) classification system is most commonly used. It divides AML into 8 major subtypes based on the type of cell involved and how mature it is.

French-American-British (FAB) classification system

FAB subtype	Common name	Approximate % of cases
M0	Acute myelogenous leukemia with minimal evidence of myeloid differentiation	1–6
M1	Acute myeloblastic leukemia without maturation	11–19
M2	Acute myeloblastic leukemia with maturation	25–30
M3	Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)	3–12
M4	Acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AMML)	15–23
M4Eo	Acute myelomonocytic leukemia with eosinophilia	2–6
M5	Acute monocytic/monoblastic leukemia	13–29
M6	Acute erythroleukemia	1–5
M7	Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia	4–14

The World Health Organization (WHO) classification is a newer system that also takes the cytogenetic causes of AML into consideration.

World Health Organization (WHO) classification system

Name	Subtypes included
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) with recurrent genetic abnormalities	AML with t(8;21) AML with abnormal bone marrow eosinophils and Inv(16) or t(16;16) Acute promyelocytic leukemia with t(15;17) and variants AML with mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) abnormalities
AML with multi-lineage dysplasia	AML following myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or myeloproliferative disorder
AML and MDS, therapy related	related to alkylating agents related to topoisomerase type II inhibitors
AML, not otherwise categorized	AML, minimally differentiated AML without maturation AML with maturation acute myelomonocytic leukemia acute monoblastic/acute monocytic leukemia acute erythroid leukemia acute megakaryoblastic leukemia acute basophilic leukemia acute panmyelosis with myelofibrosis myelogenous/granulocytic sarcoma (chloroma)
Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)/myeloproliferative syndrome (MPS)	chronic myelomonocytic leukemia atypical chronic myelogenous leukemia juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative disease, unclassifiable
MDS	refractory anemia refractory cytopenia

References

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