A 53 year old male currently on the Haematology ward is referred because of type 1 respiratory failure. He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) 3 months ago following a brief, non-specific illness where a spurious blood test demonstrated pancytopenia. He has no other health problems and his performance status is 1.
He was admitted to hospital 2 months ago for intensive AML treatment. He was enrolled in a local clinical trial and started on disease specific treatment: namely daunorubicin and cytarabine. He completed a 3+7 regimen and responded well. However, a repeat bone marrow aspirate demonstrated an incomplete peripheral response.
