Successful use of all-trans retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukaemia presenting during the second trimester of pregnancy.

The development of acute leukaemia in pregnancy is a rare event, with an estimated incidence of 0.9-1.2 cases per 100,000 per year and with the majority of cases occurring in the second and third trimesters. We report a case of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) developing during the second trimester of pregnancy which was successfully treated with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) resulting in a complete morphological remission.