Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) treatment

For the first year after your treatment, you’ll normally have a check-up every one or two months.

After a year, you will have check-ups less often, normally every three to four months for the next two years.

If you had ATRA and arsenic trioxide treatment, you’ll have a very low risk of relapse (where the leukaemia returns). Your doctors won’t normally monitor you for relapse using a PCR test.

If the test you had at the end of treatment did pick up any leukaemia cells, you’ll have regular blood tests so doctors can measure your full blood count.

If you had ATRA and chemotherapy, your risk of relapse is slightly higher. Your doctors will use the PCR test to monitor you throughout your follow-up. This is to try to pick up a relapse early if it happens.

You might also have regular bone marrow biopsies like you had when you were diagnosed.