Monitoring Minimal Residual Disease of Patients with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia or High Grade Myelodysplastic Syndrome

Eligibility Criteria

• * Are being evaluated for the diagnosis and/or treatment of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia or High Grade myelodysplastic syndrome (defined as greater than 10 percent blasts on examination of the bone marrow aspirate).
• * Have not undergone prior cytotoxic therapy for acute myelogenous leukemia or High Grade myelodysplastic syndrome in the past 3 months other than hydroxyurea or Revlimid.
• * Have not previously received an allogeneic peripheral blood or bone marrow stem cell transplant for their disease.
• * Are able to sign an informed consent. Informed consent must be signed at the time of enrollment and prior to the collection of any specimens and/or clinical data (other than PHI needed to screen and identify patients, which will be promptly discarded in a secure fashion if patient is not enrolled on study)
• * Are at least 18 years of age.
• * Do not have any serious medical or psychiatric illness, other than that treated by this study which would limit the ability of the patient to receive therapy or give informed consent.
• * Have been informed of the investigational nature of this study and given written informed consent in accordance with institutional and federal guidelines.
• * Subjects who are less than 18 years of age.
• * Subjects with limited decision making capacity.
• * Subjects who have received prior cytotoxic therapy, other than hydroxyurea or Revlimid, for their disease within the past three months.
• * Patients with a diagnosis of chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis, Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, or Bi-lineage leukemia.
• * Subjects who have previously undergone an allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplant.
• * Have an active malignancy other than acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) at the time of evaluation or a prior history of treatment for a malignancy other than AML or MDS within the past 2 years.