A rapidly progressing cancer that causes overproduction of immature white blood cells known as blasts. If the leukemia were not present, the blasts would go on to develop into the white blood cells known as granulocytes. The blasts multiply rapidly and replace the granulocytes, crowding out normal cells and causing the bone marrow to fail and the number of normal blood cells to decrease. Untreated, acute myelogenous leukemia leads to death within 3 to 4 months, sometimes in a matter of weeks, usually from infection or bleeding.