Impact of Chemotherapy on the hematological parameters of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Iraqi patients

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized as an aggressive blood cancer with rapid growth of immature leukemic cells. AML primarily impacts bone marrow and blood, resulting in alterations in every single hematological parameter that is present in the peripheral circulation. These changes are also observed in most patients following chemotherapy. Objective: This study aims to compare the changes in the hematological parameters of acute myeloid leukemia Iraqi patients before, during, and after chemotherapy treatment to healthy controls. Method: 120 AML cases were studied. Based on the chemotherapy stage, 40 patients were assigned to each group (newly diagnosed, under treatment, and relapsed). Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Iraq, provided the cases and samples from February 2022 to April 2023. This study also included 40 healthy controls. All individuals had peripheral blood drawn. An automatic hematology analyzer counted haemoglubin (HB), White blood cells (WBC), and Platelets (PLT). Results: Results showed that the distribution according to gender revealed that the prevalence of AML was (61.66) % for males and (38.33) %for females. Smoking was also recorded in this study, 57 (47.5%) smoker patients and 63 (52.5%) non-smoker patients, and most of the clinical cases, according to the French-American-British system )FAB(, was in M3 p= (0.0001). The patients' ages ranged from 15 to 75 years old, and thirty-eight cases (31.666%) out of (120) were up to 40 years old. Results showed differences in hematological parameters between the control and AML patients group, before, under treatment, and relapsed, with lower Red blood cells (RBCs), WBCs, Hb, and platelets in the patient's group than the control, the exceptions being made for newly diagnosed and relapsed patients, whose WBC counts were elevated. After chemotherapy, most hematological parameters decreased significantly except PLT, which was higher in the treated patients. Conclusion: AML affects the patient's hematological parameters, making them at abnormal levels, increase or decrease, during different stages of disease and Chemotherapy. WBC, HB, and Platelet count show different levels after Chemotherapy and relapse.