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Acute promyelocytic leukemia in a patient with multiple sclerosis following treatment with mitoxantrone

Leukemia volume 18, pages 1561–1562 (2004)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

Therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (tAML) has been well described following use of chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of malignant and less often nonmalignant diseases.1, 2, 3 Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune central nervous system disease with a variable clinical course, most often with a gradual decline in neurologic function, has included the use of chemotherapeutic agents, such as methotrexate and mitoxantrone.4 In recent years, rare reports have indicated the occurrence of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in association with mitoxantrone use in the treatment of MS.5 Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), a subtype of AML with characteristic morphologic, clinical, cytogenetic and molecular features, occurring after chemotherapy for neoplastic indications has also been documented.1 However, only a few cases of therapy-related acute promyelocytic leukemia (tAPL) following the treatment of MS have been reported.1, 6, 7

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  1. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    A V Novoselac, S Reddy & J Sanmugarajah

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  1. A V Novoselac
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  2. S Reddy
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Correspondence to A V Novoselac.

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Novoselac, A., Reddy, S. & Sanmugarajah, J. Acute promyelocytic leukemia in a patient with multiple sclerosis following treatment with mitoxantrone. Leukemia 18, 1561–1562 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403417

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