[Oral administration of arsenic trioxide induced molecular remission in relapsed acute promyelocytic leukemia]

I report on a 21-year-old man with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) which relapsed after a therapeutic regimen consisting of tretinoin, daunorubicin, enocitabine, mitoxantrone, and cytarabine. The patient also had severe mental retardation caused by a congenital central nervous system malformation. Administration of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) is indicated for patients with APL, however, daily intravenous infusion of As2O3 presented problems because of the patient's violent resistance to venous access. Accordingly, 10mg of an oral solution of As2O3 was given once daily for 70 days. No adverse events were observed with the exception of transient hyperleukocytosis and fever. The patient achieved molecular remission 103 days after the start of oral As2O3, and remains in remission after an additional 2 courses of oral As2O3 as consolidation chemotherapy. Oral As2O3 may be useful in the treatment of relapsed APL as an alternative to intravenous As2O3.