Friday 1 October 2010

MRCP revision battle 24.3: Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia

Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia is the M3 subtype of AML.

It is associated with the t(15;17) translocation and the RARA gene.


On microscopy you look for faggots (=collections of auer rods):

The cells are strongly sudan black/peroxidase positive.

Acute promyelocytic leukaemia tends to present in young adults (average approx 25 yrs) and the presentation is often DIC.


Despite this sounding bad, acute promyelocytic leukaemia actually has a good prognosis.


Remission can be induce with all-trans retinoic acid.



Thats enough heavy-going haematology for one day... lets move on to angioid retinal streaks...