Acute promyelocytic leukemia presenting as pulmonary thromboembolism: Not all APLs bleed

Ashok K Vaid; Sandeep Batra; Suman S Karanth; Sachin Gupta

doi:10.4103/2231-0770.165125

Avicenna Journal of Medicine, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2015; 05(04): 131-133
DOI: 10.4103/2231-0770.165125

CASE REPORT

Acute promyelocytic leukemia presenting as pulmonary thromboembolism: Not all APLs bleed

Authors

Ashok K Vaid

Department of Medical Oncology, Medanta, The Medicity, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Sandeep Batra

Department of Medical Oncology, Medanta, The Medicity, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Suman S Karanth

Department of Medical Oncology, Medanta, The Medicity, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Sachin Gupta

Department of Medical Oncology, Max Superspeciality Hospital, Mohali, Punjab, India

Abstract

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Abstract

We present a rare case of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) presenting as pulmonary thromboembolism being misdiagnosed as community.acquired pneumonia. Thrombotic phenomenon in APL are poorly understood and grossly underreported. In our case, following no response to standard antibiotic treatment, the patient was further investigated and detected to have an acute pulmonary thromboembolism following right lower limb deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Though, complete blood picture revealed only mild hyperleukocytosis, bone marrow biopsy and aspiration revealed 60% blasts and a positive t (15,17)(q22,12) and PML retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) fusion protein on molecular cytogenetics. He was diagnosed as APL and received treatment with all.transretinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) and therapeutic anticoagulation

Keywords

Acute promyelocytic leukemia - community-acquired pneumonia - pulmonary thromboembolism

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References

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