This phase of treatment is also sometimes called consolidation or intensification.
why do I need more treatment?
When remission has been achieved it means there's no evidence of leukaemia cells in the blood or bone marrow (when samples are looked at under the microscope). Even though remission means that there is no obvious evidence of leukaemia cells in the blood or bone marrow, there may still be many leukaemia cells hidden away in the body. Even if they can't be seen by the specialist down the microscope, special tests can identify the presence of these hidden cells. For this reason, further treatment is needed.
what happens?
Post remission treatment happens soon after you complete remission induction. It involves further blocks of treatment with either the same induction chemo drugs (perhaps at similar or higher doses) or with extra drugs.
When deciding which treatment plan to use, doctors look at what they call your 'risk factors'. These are based on different laboratory tests and also how well you respond to the first lot of treatment (remission induction). Your AML will be graded as standard risk or poor risk. Poor risk means there's more chance of the leukaemia coming back (but it can still be treated effectively).
