Blood Parameters in Treatment with Arsenic Trioxide in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia: A Systematic Review

• Main Authors: Mehdi Mohammadi Kanesbi, Lida Jarahi, Mohammad Reza Keramati
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2020-04-01
• Series: International Journal of Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Research
• Subjects: Acute promyelocytic leukemia; Arsenic trioxide; All-trans retinoic acid; Chemotherapy; Disseminated intravascular coagulation
• Online Access: https://ijhoscr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijhoscr/article/view/1163

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). APL is famed with some special blood coagulation disorders such as disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). The therapeutic methods of APL contain All Trans Retinoic Acid (ATRA), arsenic trioxide (ATO) or/and chemotherapy. Many studies have been done on APL blood disorders and its treatment. These studies have shown different results. In this systematic article, we tried to review the effect of ATO therapy with or without ATRA and chemotherapy on DIC parameters (D.dimer, Prothrombin Time, Activated Partial Thrombin Time, Platelet count) in APL patients. The result of included studies demonstrated that although ATO can reduce the number of malignant cells in the bone marrow and peripheral blood, it does not have enough potential to attenuate the danger of high score DIC that is usual in APL patients and should be better to be used with other therapeutic methods.