Significance of fibrinogen, D-dimer, and LDH levels in predicting the risk of bleeding in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia

This study was performed to determine whether any clinical parameters measured at diagnosis or during treatment are associated with bleeding in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Ninety patients with APL who were treated with all-transretinoic acid (ATRA) and anthracycline-based chemotherapy were analyzed. There were 24 significant bleeding events, classified by onset as ‘hyperacute’ (n = 5), ‘acute’ (n = 11) and ‘late’ (n = 8). Fifteen patients (17%) died because of bleeding. A poor fibrinogen (FBG) response during ATRA and chemotherapy was associated with an increased risk of bleeding (p = 0.003). Increased LDH and decreased FBG levels were associated with an increased incidence of bleeding, and low PLT count was correlated with death from bleeding. Our findings suggest that LDH/FBG levels and FBG response may be associated with morbidity and mortality from bleeding in patients with APL.