The utility and shortfalls of day 14 bone marrow evaluation in the management of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were addressed in a recent review. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network suggests that clinicians repeat bone marrow evaluation 7 to 10 days after completing induction therapy. That way, if day 14 bone marrow shows residual blast cell counts of >10%, the patient can receive a second cycle of induction therapy. However, studies demonstrate that day 14 bone marrow is highly nonspecific, meaning that some patients who are managed in this way could be given second induction therapy unnecessarily.

Thus, the authors called for further reevaluation of day 14 bone marrow evaluation in order to address its role in predicting outcomes.