A Retrospective Study of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

Abstract

1 Master of Science in Medical laboratory technology (Lecturer) 2 M.B.B.S, M.D (Pathologist), 3 BMLT, (Student), 4 Master of Pharmacy (Lecturer) Siddhartha institute of paramedical science, dehradun1 Dr.lal path labs, new delhi2 Lincoln university college malaysia3 Abstract Objective:–To study the incidence of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in the department of Haematology Dr Lal path Labs, New Delhi from year 2002 to December 2008 in relation to age, sex, morphology, molecular and cytogenetic (HLA-DR) analysis. To demonstrate various morphological types of Acute promyelocytic Leukaemia (APL) To estimate the percentage of APL of the total acute leukemia. Methods:–The present retrospective study was carried out to ascertain the incidence of acute promyelocytic Leukemia (FAB-M3) diagnosed at Dr Lal path Labs, New Delhi from year 2002 to December 2008.All relevant data including clinical record concerning age, sex, laboratory finding, cytochemistry, cytogenetic, haematological parameter and history of bleeding were retrieved from the laboratory records departments of the Laboratory. In all cases bone marrow slides were examined and whenever necessary they were restained. Results:–A total of 206 patients were diagnosed as acute leukemia. Out of which 94 cases were acute myeloid leukemia and rest of them (112) were Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Out of AML, 26 cases were conformed as APL.Thus the incidence of APL among total cases of acute leukemia was 12.6% and APL constituted 27.6 % of total AML cases. Conclusion:–There are Very few studies available in Indian literature on the relative incidence of APL in Indian population, the data in literatures were analyzed and compared with observation of present study. The Result of the study was compared with the observations of other study available on the subject and after comparative review of available literature the following conclusion was drawn: 1. The incidence of APL (26%) was found to be higher at our centre of study in comparison to other studies. So there is a need for multicentric studies having a large population based to know actual incidence rate in our country. 2. Males were found to be affected more comprising 76.9% of the cases giving a male and female ratio (M: F) of 3.3:1 3. The main age incidence of APL in our study was 40 years. The majority of the patient was the age group between 20 to 40 years but few patients were found above 60 years of age. Keywords AML : Acute Myeloid Leukemia. ALL : Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia APL : Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia HLA-DR : Human leukocyte Antigen – DR FAB : French American British PML – RARα : Promyelocytic Leukemia-Retinoic acid receptor alpha.