Mumbai: With rising cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer, experts are calling for it to be recognised as a national health priority, saying critical time is lost in its detection although a simple blood test can help diagnose it.

They also said that despite Mumbai housing reputed oncology centres, patients struggle with high costs and limited access to molecular diagnostics and AML-targeted therapies.

AML is a type of cancer that affects the bone marrow and blood. In this, bone marrow makes a large number of abnormal blood cells.

With cases gradually rising, AML should be recognised as a national health priority to prevent avoidable loss of life, Dr Ranjit Sahoo, Professor (Additional) at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said.

"We lose critical time because AML is detected late in our country and often masquerades as fatigue or infection. By the time the right tests are done, the disease has often progressed to a stage where treatment options are limited or less effective," he said.

"Acute leukaemia can be detected by a simple blood test. However, the treatment of AML is carried out at tertiary centres and the cost of supportive treatment is high," he added.

Dr Abhay A Bhave, Haematologist, Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre said in a statement that many patients delay treatment due to financial constraints or seek care in late stages when treatment is less effective.

"AML, while rare among all haematological malignancies, is the most feared one. It has an excellent chemotherapy combination for control of disease, including deep remission (control, not cure), but is fraught with complications, including life-threatening ones due to severe infections and bone marrow suppression," he said.

Fortunately, with better supportive care and facilities and with earlier diagnosis, many of these patients can survive with treatment followed by bone marrow transplantation, he said.

"AML can be relapsing and relentless based on the genes that cause this disease. Fortunately, many new agents are available in the Indian market that allow precision therapy and, hence, better outcomes.

However, this adds to cost and not all patients are able to avail the same. Also allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (normal HLA-matched stem cells from a relative or unrelated donor given to the patient) is expensive and not easy to obtain," Bhave added.

In 60 per cent of the AML cases, patients arrive in advanced stages with infection and bleeding which limits doctors' ability to give full treatment.

However with the advent of newer agents which are non-chemotherapy we are able to give a chance of treatment to such difficult patient presentations, said Dr Punit L Jain, Oncologist at Apollo Hospitals.

"Better public and physician awareness along with routine molecular screening may help save many lives," he added.