Haemostatic parameters in acute promyelocytic leukemia patients treated with All Trans-Retinoic Acid (ATRA).

Shnain Ali, Mohammad; Sh. Mansoor, Saad; Muslim Al- Amiry, Ali

	Haemostatic parameters in acute promyelocytic leukemia patients treated with All Trans-Retinoic Acid (ATRA).
Kerbala Journal of Medicine
Article 1, Volume 1, Issue 0, 2007, Pages 63-68 PDF (0 K)
Authors
Mohammad Shnain Ali; Saad Sh. Mansoor; Ali Muslim Al- Amiry
Abstract
Background: Acute Pormyelocytic Leukemia (APL) is commonly associated with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) 1,2 . Objective: The work was conducted to identify patients with APL who show laboratory evidence of DIC (clinical or subclinical) with serial laboratory follow up. Subjects and Methods: In this study 44 newly diagnosed APL patients were included. For each patient, full hemostatic investigations were done at time of diagnosis and repeated on day 3 and day 7 of therapy. Results: Before starting therapy, all patients had elevated levels of D-dimer, indicating the presence of DIC. On day 7 of treatment, plasma D-dimer levels were normal in ATRA- treated group, but were high in the chemotherapy treated group, indicating that DIC was essentially resolved in ATRA treated patients. Conclusion: DIC is commonly encountered at presentation in patients with APL, necessitating a rapid and full coagulation study in all patients. ATRA therapy in APL patients is associated with rapid improvement of coagulopathy, hence it will aid those patients to pass quickly the critical period of DIC. Therefore, ATRA therapy is justified to be used from day one of treatment in APL patients.
Keywords
KEYWORDS; trans retinoic acid; Acute promyelocytic leukemia

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