The following list of words and phrases appear throughout this website. Refer to this list if you are reading about AML online or when talking to your healthcare team.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML): A type of leukemia (or blood cancer) that occurs when blood cells don’t form properly in your bone marrow. Instead, young cells called blasts multiply and crowd out normal healthy cells. This is what causes the symptoms of AML.
Blast (or myeloblast): A young, abnormal, cancerous cell that does not mature into a healthy blood cell in your bone marrow.
Bone marrow: The soft interior of bones where blood cells are created.
Consolidation therapy: A high-dose, intense chemotherapy given after AML is in remission. Not all people receive consolidation therapy.
Continued treatment: A long-term treatment for people not planning to have a transplant. The goal of continued treatment is to kill cancer cells that may be left behind after remission. ONUREG® is a continued treatment.
Neutropenia: Lower-than-normal levels of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell), as measured on a blood test. When you have neutropenia, your body has a harder time fighting infections.
Overall survival: The length of time that a person lives after starting a medication in a clinical trial.
Median overall survival: The length of time after starting a medication in a clinical trial when half the people are still alive.
Placebo: An inactive treatment that resembles a real medicine. Real medicines may be compared to placebos in clinical trials.
Platelet (or thrombocyte): Small cells in your blood that form clots and stop or prevent bleeding.
Remission: The absence of AML signs and symptoms after initial treatment. Being in remission means that less than 5% of your bone marrow contains young, abnormal blood cells (or blasts).
Complete remission: When less than 5% of your bone marrow contains blasts, and all your blood counts are normal.
Complete remission with incomplete blood count recovery: When less than 5% of your bone marrow contains blasts, but some of your blood counts have still not returned to normal.
Thrombocytopenia: Low platelet count on a blood test. Thrombocytopenia can put you at risk for bleeding.
Transplant: An intense procedure that replaces unhealthy stem cells in your bone marrow with healthy cells. Transplant may offer the possibility of a cure for some people with AML.
White blood cell (or leukocyte): A type of blood cell that is part of the body’s immune system. White blood cells protect you against illness and disease.