Aplastic anemia (AA) is a hematological disorder presenting with pancytopenia in peripheral blood and hypocellularity in bone marrow. AA patients with immunosuppressive therapy and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor treatment have a risk of development of acute leukemia including acute myeloid leukemia (M0, M1, M2, M4, M5, M6) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. However, AA with transformation to acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) has never been reported. Here, we reported a patient initially diagnosed with AA. while 19 years later, PML/RAR αfusion gene were detected and the patient was eventually diagnosed as APL. The diagnosis and management of this interesting case are discussed.
Keywords: Aplastic anemia; acute promyelocytic leukemia; immunosuppressive therapy.