The Challenges of Treating FLT3-ITD AML

Mark J. Levis, MD, PhD, Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, discusses the difficulty of treating a patient with a FLT3-ITD mutation in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Clinical Pearls:

• While an AML patient with a low white blood cell count can be maintained with transfusions and antibiotics, the population of patients with a FLT3-ITD mutation are difficult to palliate
• The majority of patients with a high white blood cell count and a FLT3-ITD mutation can be treated into remission but they will eventually relapse
• Physicians attempt to keep these patients in remission long enough to be able to get a transplant