Definition

A type of acute myeloid leukemia in which at least 20% of a patient’s blood or bone marrow is myeloblasts (immature white blood cells) and the patient has one of the following conditions: 1) has had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or a myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm (MDS/MPN) before, 2) cells that have changes in certain chromosomes that are similar to those found in MDS, or 3) at least 50% of the cells (of at least two types of blood cells) are abnormal. Acute myeloid leukemia with myelodysplasia-related changes usually occurs in older adults and has a poor prognosis. Also called AML-MRC.