Clinical Significance of Serum Ferritin at Diagnosis in Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A YACHT Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Purpose: A multicenter retrospective analysis was performed to evaluate the clinical significance of serum ferritin at diagnosis in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Methods: The study cohort included 305 patients who were newly diagnosed with AML from 2000 to 2015 and received standard induction chemotherapy. Transplantation was performed in 168 patients.

Results: The median ferritin value was 512 ng/mL (range, 8-9475 ng/mL). Ferritin correlated with lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and blast count, and elevation of ferritin was associated with poor performance status. The median follow-up period was 58 months (range, 4-187 months) among survivors. The high ferritin group (≥ 400 ng/mL) demonstrated inferior event-free survival (EFS) at the 5-year interval (30% vs. 40%; P = .033) compared to the low ferritin group. Multivariate analysis in the high-risk karyotype revealed that high ferritin levels predicted worse EFS (hazard ratio = 2.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.28-3.33; P = .003).

Conclusion: Elevated ferritin at diagnosis may indicate tumor burden in patients with AML and predict worse EFS in the high-risk group.