Acute monocytic leukaemia is more malignant, prone to extramedullary infiltration and more difficult to treat.
It is a poor prognostic factor if the patient is older than 60 years, has a history of MDS or MPN, or is a treatment-related acute monocytic leukaemia with high white blood cells (>100X109/L) at presentation, combined with CNS leukaemia with chromosomal or molecular genetic markers of poor prognosis, and has not achieved complete remission after 2 courses of induction. Patients are advised to receive aggressive treatment with early induction chemotherapy, consolidation chemotherapy and maintenance chemotherapy, which can control disease progression, and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation if available, to achieve clinical cure if possible.