Outcome of patients with newly diagnosed AML admitted to the ICU, including preemptive admission - a multi-center study

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can lead to life-threatening complications that may require intensive care unit (ICU) management. It has been advocated that early preemptive (ePE) ICU admission, before the onset of organ failure, could benefit some high-risk patients such as those with hyperleukocytosis. The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the outcome of newly diagnosed AML patients who required ICU admission in five academic centers with a special focus on patients with an ePE admission strategy, i.e., those transferred to the ICU without any organ failure (modified SOFA score ≤ 2 [omitting thrombocytopenia] and no life-sustaining intervention in the first 24 h following ICU admission) before the start of induction therapy. Between January 2017 and December 2019, 428 patients were included among which 101 were admitted to the ICU. Among patients requiring life-sustaining interventions (n = 83), 18 (22%) died while in the ICU but ICU survivors had the same survival as those not admitted to the ICU. Patients with an ePE admission (n = 18) had more comorbidities and high-risk disease features such as hyperleukocytosis but required no life-sustaining interventions while in the ICU. In a subgroup analysis of patients with hyperleukocytosis ≥ 50 G/l at diagnosis (n = 85), patients not admitted to the ICU and those admitted with an ePE strategy had similar outcomes. This study provides encouraging results about ICU outcome in AML patients during induction therapy but the potential benefit of an ePE strategy must be confirmed prospectively.