title: Sudden death due to undiagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia: a case report.
abstract: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is associated with severe hemorrhagic coagulopathy induced by the release of procoagulant, plasminogen, and protease from leukemic cells. The case described in this report is of a 15-year-old male who unexpectedly died due to a cerebral hemorrhage caused by underlying APL within 12 h after presentation. This case suggests that underlying APL should be considered as a differential diagnosis when sudden death occurs with a fatal spontaneous hemorrhage, although it is rare.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan. kentaro.sakai@jikei.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takatsu
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shigeta
authors.forename: Shuntaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikegami
authors.forename: Keizo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takagi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D015473:Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male