Successful post-remission therapy with a combination of all-trans retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide in an elderly Japanese patient newly diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia.

摘要

The treatment of elderly acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients with cytotoxic agents remains problematic because of the vulnerability of such patients to therapy-related toxicity and mortality [1]. Arsenic trioxide (ATO) is effective in the treatment of patients with relapsed APL [2], and it may also be effective in consolidation therapy [3]. Here, we describe a newly diagnosed case of APL in an elderly patient who showed organ dysfunction and deterioration after cytotoxic induction chemotherapy but who was then successfully treated with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) plus ATO as post-remission therapy.