The 2016 WHO classification of acute myeloid leukemia: What the practicing clinician needs to know

In 2016 a revision of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was introduced that included changes to several disease categories. The WHO approach results in disease categories that are defined by a combination of clinical, morphologic, immunophenotypic, and genetic features in an attempt to define clinically relevant, biologic entities. This review summarizes the WHO approach as well as the priority of specific features for disease classification. Changes to specific categories, including AML with myelodysplasia-related changes, AML with mutated NPM1, AML with biallelic mutations of CEBPA and erythroleukemia are summarized. The importance of additional gene mutations as well as germline predisposition in AML is also reviewed.