OBJECTIVES: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is the only acute leukemia amenable to targeted therapy. However, there is limited Indian data on APL. We aimed to analyze data of APL patients treated with all trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and anthracycline based chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 34 cases of APL were treated at our center over 4 years. Induction chemotherapy consisted of a combination of ATRA and daunorubicin. RESULTS: Most of our patients were intermediate risk (50%) followed by high risk (41.17%). Induction mortality was 14.7%. We observed a high incidence of febrile neutropenia (91%) and 50% of our patients developed ATRA syndrome. Four patients (11.76%) relapsed during follow-up (median - 15 months, range: 13-33 months). There was no correlation between risk status and death or relapse or ATRA syndrome. Median event free survival (EFS) duration was not reached however mean duration was 38.45 ± 3.84 months. Median overall survival (OS) duration was also not reached at 53 months of follow-up. The 4 year OS and EFS were 75.45% and 64.5% respectively. On multivariate analysis, only disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) significantly correlated with a poor OS and EFS. DISCUSSION: Our data reflects that APL remains a highly curable malignancy with good response to ATRA plus anthracycline based chemotherapy even with a greater number of high and intermediate risk patients. Only DIC during induction chemotherapy bore an impact on survival in our patients.
OBJECTIVES:Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is the only acute leukemia amenable to targeted therapy. However, there is limited Indian data on APL. We aimed to analyze data of APLpatients treated with all trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and anthracycline based chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 34 cases of APL were treated at our center over 4 years. Induction chemotherapy consisted of a combination of ATRA and daunorubicin. RESULTS: Most of our patients were intermediate risk (50%) followed by high risk (41.17%). Induction mortality was 14.7%. We observed a high incidence of febrile neutropenia (91%) and 50% of our patients developed ATRA syndrome. Four patients (11.76%) relapsed during follow-up (median - 15 months, range: 13-33 months). There was no correlation between risk status and death or relapse or ATRA syndrome. Median event free survival (EFS) duration was not reached however mean duration was 38.45 ± 3.84 months. Median overall survival (OS) duration was also not reached at 53 months of follow-up. The 4 year OS and EFS were 75.45% and 64.5% respectively. On multivariate analysis, only disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) significantly correlated with a poor OS and EFS. DISCUSSION: Our data reflects that APL remains a highly curable malignancy with good response to ATRA plus anthracycline based chemotherapy even with a greater number of high and intermediate risk patients. Only DIC during induction chemotherapy bore an impact on survival in our patients.