Predicting APL lethal bleeding in the ATRA era

Abstract

In this issue of Blood, Mantha and colleagues advance our understanding of risk factors for early hemorrhagic death (HD) in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in the all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) era.1 Analysis of HD risk factors in a large series of ATRA-treated patients convincingly shows that high white blood cell (WBC) count is an independent predictor of early HD. The results help to construct a profile of patients at high-risk for bleeding.