Acute promyelocytic leukemia in early pregnancy with translocation

Annotated bibliography

Park TS , Lee ST , Kim JS , Song J , LeE KA ,Kim SJ , Seok YM , Lee HJ , Han JH Kim JK , Lee EY , Choi JR . Acute promyelocytic leukemia in early pregnancy with translocation t (15 17 ) and variant PML /RARA fusion transcripts . Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics . 2008 188 :48-51

The research article of Park et al . presents a case report that involves a pregnant woman who was determined to have a chromosomal rearrangement characteristic of acute promyelocytic leukemia . This report provides a unique view on the incidence of this specific type

of acute leukemia during pregnancy , which has been considered as a rare event , affecting only one in almost 100 ,000 pregnancies . The employment of both karyotypic and molecular biology tools has elucidated the actual condition of the patient , including the identification of variant transcripts that were generated from the translocation of genetic material between chromosomes 15 and 17

Acute leukemia pertains to a blood disorder that generally afflicts adults and is characterized by the generation of a high number of leucocytes . The treatment of acute leukemia becomes complicated when it involves pregnant women , as there is an immediate need to administer anti-cancer medications in order to prevent the further proliferation of leucocytes . The termination of the developing fetus is thus a common action that is performed upon positive diagnosis of acute leukemia in a pregnant woman

The incidence of leukemia in pregnant women has been estimated to be one in at most 100 ,000 pregnancies each year . Moreover...