Leroy Satchel Paige was the longtime Negro League star who eventually received his due in the majors. He reportedly got his nickname working as a baggage porter in Mobile, Ala., where he became a satchel tree by carrying several bags at once. Satchel, the man, was literally ageless.
The diagnosis of AML requires the identification of 20% or more leukemic blasts in the bone marrow. Further analysis then must separate AML from acute lymphoblastic leukemia by showing evidence for commitment to the myeloid lineage.
Although most patients with acute leukemia or MDS have a higher percentage of BM blasts than PB blasts, the relative proportion is reversed in some patients. We explored the clinical relevance of this phenomenon in MDS (n=446), AML (n=1314), and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (n=385). Among patients with MDS or ALL, but not AML, having a higher blast percentage in PB than in BM was associated with significantly shorter survival.