Evolution of Treatment for a Rare Type of Leukemia
Medical Author: Michael Lill, MD Medical Editor: Leslie J. Schoenfield, MD, PhDMedical Revising Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MDIntroduction text to the patients story. This is her story... -->
One of my more vivid memories from the early days of my training in hematology in Perth, Australia, is of the tragedy of a young girl with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). This disease is a very serious, rare type of acute leukemia (cancer of the white blood cells). I admitted her to our oncology floor in the hospital. A teenager, she had been completely well until one Sunday when she developed unusually heavy menstrual bleeding. She saw her doctor in her small country town on Monday, had a blood count done on Tuesday, and was flown up to us in Perth on Wednesday with a diagnosis of acute (rapid onset) leukemia. The next day, we performed a biopsy of the bone marrow that enabled us to confirm the diagnosis. We immediately started chemotherapy but that night she bled into her brain. Despite intensive medical efforts, including brain surgery, she died the next morning.
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