Concomitant Presentation of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Lung Cancer

Smoking is associated with AML and lung cancer, suggesting a common carcinogenic origin and raising the question of how to treat patients with concomitant cancer presentations. The Roswell Park Cancer Institute Tumor Registry was searched for patients with both diagnoses, followed by medical record review. Among 775 AML cases and 5225 lung cancer cases presented to Roswell Park Cancer Institute between January 1992 and May 2008 we identified twelve patients with both AML and lung cancer (1.5% of AML cases; 0.2% of lung cancer cases). Of these, seven cases had metachronous and five cases had synchronous presentation. Eleven of the twelve (92%) patients had a known smoking history; five (42%) of them were males. The median age at the respective diagnoses was 65 (range 58–85) years for AML and 66 (range 53–79) years for lung cancer. Five of the twelve (42%) patients had a complex karyotype.