Guidelines on the management of acute myeloid leukaemia in adults

Key recommendations Diagnosis 1 Bone marrow aspirate and trephine biopsy unless the peripheral blast count is high. 2 Immunophenotyping [CD3, CD7, CD13, CD14, CD33, CD34, CD64, CD117 and cytoplasmic myeloperoxidase (MPO)]. 3 Cytochemistry (MPO or Sudan Black, combined esterase). Can be omitted if four-colour flow cytometry is available. 4 Cytogenetics [with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for AML 1-ETO and CBFB-MYH11 in non-acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) and promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) and retinoic acid receptor-alpha (RARA) in suspected APL; fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) in selected cases].