Extramedullary acute promyelocytic leukemia

✍ Scribed by Mustafa Benekli; M. Cemil Savaş; İbrahim C. Haznedaroǧlu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 52 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19970801)80:3<518::aid-cncr24>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

Because extramedullary depositions of APL are uncommon, information concerning the therapeutic Department of Orthopaedics University Ho ˆpital H. Mondor role of ATRA in extramedullary disease is insufficient. In their article, Wiernik et al. state that at least one Creteil, France Gaetano Bacci, M.D. patient was reported to be treated with ATRA for extramedullary APL. 1,6 However, currently emerging evi-Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli Centro Tumori Ossei dence points out that ATRA can be used with great efficacy in these patients without ATRA resistance. 6-10 Reperto di Chemioterapia Bologna, Italy Authors should also mention the successful retreatment of patients with extramedullary APL using Gerald Rosen, M.D. Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive ATRA in at least four other cases. 7-10 It now appears that sustained clinical cytodifferentiating efficacy after Cancer Center Los Angeles, CA the first ATRA-induced remission may be possible. Leukemic blasts may retain sensitivity to ATRA after Jean-Claude Desbois, M.D. Department of Paediatric Oncology the first insult of the drug. Therefore, the concept of ''retinoid resistance'' should be questioned. University Ho ˆpital Robert Debre Ṕaris, France

Another point that deserves comment is the concept of ATRA-induced extramedullary relapses, which was first proposed by Weiss and Warrell. 7 Subsequently, a few more cases have been reported. 1,3,8, Increased expres-