Postremission therapy in acute promyelocytic leukemia: room for improvement?

Abstract

A 29-year-old white man presented to the hospital with a 3-week history of fatigue, generalized weakness, gingival swelling and bleeding, and headaches. Laboratory work revealed WBC 30.4 k/μL, hemoglobin 7.9 g/dL, and platelets 16 k/μL. The WBC differential showed 64% blasts and 24% promyelocytes. Coagulation studies revealed prothrombin time (PT) 13.5 seconds, internationalized normalized ratio (INR) 1.3, fibrinogen 199 mg/dL, D-dimer greater than 1.0 μg/mL, and fibrin split products greater than 40 μg/mL. A bone-marrow aspirate with biopsy was performed, yielding the diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), with t(15;17)(q23;q21.1) in all metaphases. Induction therapy commenced with daunorubicin, cytarabine (Ara-C), and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), and complete remission was documented 5 weeks later. PML-RARA fusion transcripts were still detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. He is now referred to you for consideration of postremission therapy in the setting of high-risk acute promyelocytic leukemia in first remission.