Cytogenetic Influence on Prognosis in Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia: A Cohort Study in Vietnam.

Objective/background: To analyse the influence of chromosomal aberrations in addition to t(15;17)(q22;q21) in acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) on clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes.

Methods: Fifty-seven patients with new APL diagnoses underwent conventional cytogenetic analysis; fluorescence in situ hybridization for t(15;17)(q22;q21) and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction detected PML/RARα in two forms: L (length) and S (short) and accepted treatment with all-trans retinoic acid and chemotherapy. Patients with additional chromosome aberrations were designated as the complex karyotype group and were compared with patients with only t(15;17), who were designated as the simple karyotype group.

Results: Additional chromosome aberrations was observed in 18/57 patients (31.6%) at initial diagnosis. Outcome was significantly different between the simple karyotype group and the complex karyotype group for complete remission (92.3% vs. 66.7% respectively, p = .025), overall survival at 3 years (92.3% vs. 65.0%, respectively, p = .017), and progression-free survival at 3 years (81.4% vs. 44.4%, respectively, p = .024).

Conclusions: Additional chromosome aberrations had adverse effects on the prognosis in APL.