Treatment of Newly Diagnosed Patients With Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia in Children: Remission Induction With All-transretinoic Acid (ATRA) and Arsenic Trioxide (As2O3). Consolidation With Daunorubicin(DNR)+Ara-c or DNR Alone.

Several groups, especially the PETHEMA group (in their LPA96 and 99 trials), obtained low relapse rates in newly diagnosed Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) patients by combining ll-transretinoic acid (ATRA) and anthracyclines without Ara-C, suggesting that avoiding Ara-C in the chemotherapy of APL reduced treatment toxicity without increasing relapses. While the relapse rate for the children with white blood cell(WBC) counts greater than 10×109/L at presentation were higher than those WBC counts less than 10×109/L (31% and 3.5%,respectively) in the LPA96 and 99 trials. A recent adult randomized trial show that avoiding Ara-C leads to an increased risk of relapse in the APL patients with WBC counts less than 10×109/L. The role of the Ara-C remains controversial. And there are very limited data reported on children with APL so far.