Clinical Research Directory

Inclusion Criteria: * Ability to understand and voluntarily sign an informed consent form * Pathological diagnosis of AML according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria (with at least 20% blasts in the peripheral blood or bone marrow): newly diagnosed de novo AML; except for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL); newly diagnosed secondary AML, defined as having a history of an antecedent hematologic disorder (myelodysplastic syndromes \[MDS\], myeloproliferative disease \[MPD\] or history of cytotoxic treatment for non-hematologic malignancy) or apparent de novo AML with MDS-associated karyotype * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-3 * Serum creatinine =\< 2.0 mg/dL * Serum total bilirubin =\< 2.0 mg/dL * Serum alanine aminotransferase \< 3 times the upper limit of normal (ULN); Note: If elevated liver enzymes are related to disease alanine aminotransferase (ALT) should be \< 5 times ULN * To be considered at high risk for induction mortality patients must have 1 or 2 of the following risk factors (patients \>= 60 must have at least 1 risk factor, patients \< 60 must have at least 2 risk factors) present; at least one risk factor in every patient must be an AML-related factor: * AML-related factors include: * Antecedent hematologic disorder (AHD) (MDS, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia \[CMML\], or MPD) or history of exposure to cytotoxic chemotherapy \[therapy-related (t)-AML\]), or WHO-defined AML with MDS-related changes or apparent de novo AML with MDS-associated karyotype * Unfavorable cytogenetics as defined by the European Leukemia Net * Patient-related factors: * Age \>= 70 * ECOG performance status (PS) \>= 2 * Co-morbidities: * Serum creatinine \> 1.3 g/dL * Cardiac ejection fraction \>= 50% by echocardiography or multi gated acquisition (MUGA) (when left ventricular ejection fraction \[LVEF\] expressed as a range, at least the upper limit should include 50%) * Able to adhere to the study visit schedule and other protocol requirements * All men and women must agree to practice effective contraception during the study period if not otherwise documented to be infertile Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with history of second malignancy are eligible if they have documentation of disease stability, off therapy, based on computed tomography (CT) scan or other measures for the 6 months prior to entry in core * Any serious medical condition or psychiatric illness that would prevent the patient from providing informed consent * Chemotherapy or other investigational anticancer therapeutic drugs in the two weeks prior to study entry; in the event of rapidly proliferative disease, however, the use of hydroxyurea is permitted up to 24 hours before study entry in core * Evidence of active central nervous system (CNS) leukemia * Pregnant or lactating women * Uncontrolled infection; to be eligible, patients receiving treatment for an infection (antibiotic, antifungal or antiviral treatment) must be afebrile (\< 38.3 degrees Celsius \[C\]) and without hemodynamic instability or dyspnea from pneumonia for \> 48 hours (hrs) prior to the start of induction therapy * Hypersensitivity to cytarabine, daunorubicin or liposomal products * History of Wilson's disease or other copper-metabolism disorder